Fallout from ‘debanking’ scandal suggests more U.K. bank reforms coming
By 
Neil Hodge2023-09-12T15:00:00
A banking boss’s decision to leak client details to a journalist is likely to cost the industry millions in new compliance checks as U.K. regulators prepare reviews into how banks treat people with extreme political views and whether they are subject to excessive and illegal monitoring.
NatWest’s now-former Group Chief Executive Alison Rose broke the most basic rule on confidentiality and told a BBC reporter that Nigel Farage—the U.K.’s face of Brexit and anti-immigration—had his bank account canceled because he didn’t meet the necessary wealth criteria.
Farage was a customer with Coutts bank, a financial institution that advises account holders be able to borrow at least 1 million pounds (U.S. $1.3 million) or hold £3 million in savings (U.S. $3.8 million) with it. Coutts is part of the NatWest Group.
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