Nigel Farage has said that NatWest Group boss Alison Rose is “unfit” to run the bank after she tonight admitted she was the source of the BBC’s incorrect story about his de-banking row with Coutts – but, ludicrously, the bank’s Board has said it still has “full confidence” in her. The Mail has the story.
In a statement released this evening, Dame Alison conceded she was “wrong” to have discussed Mr. Farage’s account with the BBC’s Business Editor Simon Jack.
She offered her “sincere apologies” to the former UKIP leader, as well as saying sorry to the Board of NatWest Group – which owns Coutts – and her colleagues. But the bank’s Board has said it still has “full confidence” in its under fire leader.
Dame Alison has been under pressure after it emerged she sat next to Mr. Jack at a charity dinner the night before the BBC wrongly reported Mr. Farage was dropped as a Coutts customer due to a lack of wealth.
It has since been revealed how Mr. Farage was ditched by Coutts due to his political views.
But the controversy does not seem to have threatened Dame Alison’s future at the beleaguered banking group.
NatWest Group Chairman Sir Howard Davies this evening said the Board “retains full confidence” in Dame Alison as Chief Executive.
He also praised her as an “outstanding leader” as he backed her to remain in post, although he suggested she could suffer a bonus or pay cut as a result of the scandal. …
Speaking on his GB News show this evening, Mr. Farage again called for the resignation of senior figures at NatWest and Coutts.
He added that the Government, which owns a 39% stake in the banking giant, should say it has no confidence in its management at an investors meeting due to take place this Friday.
The Brexit campaigner said: “It is perfectly clear to me that Peter Flavel, the CEO of Coutts, has not done his job at all.
“It is perfectly clear to me that Alison Rose is unfit to be the CEO of a big group and that Howard Davies, who is supposed to be in charge of governance, has failed as well.
“Given that we have a 39% stake in this, we the great British public, I think at that investor statement on Friday morning, the Government ought to say we have no confidence in this management.
“Frankly, I think they should all go and that is my conclusion from what we’ve learned this afternoon.” …
He accused the bank leadership of acting against the Financial Conduct Authority’s code of conduct.
“I think they [the Board of Directors] are doing their best to prop up Alison Rose, her remuneration will be hit. She might not get the £5.2 million she got last year – gosh, my heart bleeds, I’m sure yours does to.” …
Sir Howard said the NatWest Group Board would commission an independent review of the closure of Mr. Farage’s account with Coutts and would publish its findings.
He admitted the “overall handling of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Farage accounts has been unsatisfactory, with serious consequences for the bank”.
But, offering his backing to Dame Alison, Sir Howard added: “As she recognises, she should not have spoken in the way she did.
“This was a regrettable error of judgement on her part. The events will be taken into account in decisions on remuneration at the appropriate time.
“However, after careful reflection the Board has concluded that it retains full confidence in Ms. Rose as CEO of the bank.
“She has proved, over the last four years to be an outstanding leader of the institution, as demonstrated by our results.
“The Board therefore believes it is clearly in the interest of all the bank’s shareholders and customers that she continues in post.”
Worth reading in full.
Dame Alison Rose’s statement in full:
I recognise that in my conversations with Simon Jack of the BBC, I made a serious error of judgement in discussing Mr. Farage’s relationship with the bank. Given the consequences of this, I want to address the questions that have been raised and set out the substance of the conversations that took place.
Believing it was public knowledge, I confirmed that Mr. Farage was a Coutts customer and that he had been offered a NatWest bank account. Alongside this, I repeated what Mr. Farage had already stated, that the bank saw this as a commercial decision. I would like to emphasise that in responding to Mr. Jack’s questions I did not reveal any personal financial information about Mr. Farage. In response to a general question about eligibility criteria required to bank with Coutts and NatWest I said that guidance on both was publicly available on their websites. In doing so, I recognise that I left Mr. Jack with the impression that the decision to close Mr. Farage’s accounts was solely a commercial one.
I was not part of the decision-making process to exit Mr. Farage. This decision was made by Coutts, and I was informed in April that this was for commercial reasons. At the time of my conversations with Mr. Jack, I was not in receipt of the contents of the Coutts Wealth Reputational Risk Committee materials subsequently released by Mr. Farage. I have apologised to Mr. Farage for the deeply inappropriate language contained in those papers and the Board has commissioned a full independent review into the decision and process to ensure that this cannot happen again.
Put simply, I was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case. I want to extend my sincere apologies to Mr. Farage for the personal hurt this has caused him and I have written to him today.
I would like to say sorry to the Board and my colleagues. I started my career working for National Westminster Bank. It is an institution I care about enormously and have always been proud to be a part of. It has been the privilege of my career to lead the bank and I am grateful to the Board for entrusting me with this role. It is therefore all the more regrettable that my actions have compounded an already difficult issue for the Group.
Former Tory cabinet minister David Davis said: “I’m afraid I think that Dame Alison Rose has little choice but to resign. And frankly, I’m astonished that the Board of Directors indicated full confidence in her.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg has expressed his doubts that Dame Alison would still be in post by Friday’s shareholders meeting, saying: “I think the pressure on her is going to get bigger and bigger. You can’t admit to this type of indiscretion and remain [a] senior banker, you have broken [a] key rule of [the] bankers code.”
The Telegraph is reporting that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are understood to have “significant concerns” about Dame Alison staying in her post and there is expectation within the Government that she will have to quit.
Quite why that isn’t obvious to Rose and the NatWest Board yet is anyone’s guess, but I imagine it has something to do with not wanting their prized ‘diverse’ CEO to become the victim of dastardly Mr. Brexit.
Stop Press: According to Sky News, Dame Alison is due to quit on Wednesday morning following an emergency meeting of the NatWest Board. The focus will now shift to Sir Howard Davies, the Chairman of the Board who initially said it had full confidence in her, and Peter Flavel, the CEO of Coutts. Will all three be gone by the end of the week? We can but hope.
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