Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of NatWest, has resigned this morning, following yesterday’s admission that she was behind the leak to the BBC about Nigel Farage being de-banked because he didn’t meet Coutts’s financial thresholds. The Mail has more.
NatWest is engulfed in a full-blown crisis today after its chief executive was forced to quit over briefing the BBC about Nigel Farage’s ‘de-banking’.
Dame Alison Rose initially tried to cling on to her £5 million-a-year post despite dramatically admitting she was behind the leaking of a customer’s financial details.
But she finally fell on her sword in the early hours of the morning following an extraordinary intervention from the PM and Chancellor, who made clear their “significant concerns”. The taxpayer still has a big stake in NatWest following the Credit Crunch.
The furore was threatening to spread this morning, with Mr Farage hailing the departure as a “start” – but adding “the whole Board needs to go” after backing her abortive attempt to stay in post.
“She’s gone, and that’s a start, but I have to say that (Coutts chief executive) Peter Flavel… (NatWest chair) Howard Davies… it was the board that sanctioned this culture that talks about diversity and inclusion, and actually is very divisive,” he said.
“In my case, as you can clearly see, pretty poisonous stuff. I think any board member that endorsed that statement last night, where they said ‘yes, she breached confidentiality, but she can stay in her post’… frankly, I think the whole board needs to go.”
Senior Tories lined up behind their long-term political foe in the battle against ‘woke’ banking culture. Former Cabinet minister David Jones said: “Only yesterday they were declaring full confidence in her. How can they expect customers, shareholders and the taxpayer to retain confidence in them?”
A No 10 source said Rishi Sunak was concerned about the unfolding situation. The source said: “Alison Rose has done the right thing in resigning.
“Everyone would expect people in public life – whether that’s in a business leadership role or otherwise – to act responsibly and with integrity.”
Shares in NatWest fell by 3% in early trading this morning, while other banks were also hit – with Lloyds down 3% despite a surge in half-year profits.
City minister Andrew Griffith – who was due to hold a summit with banking chiefs including Dame Alison this morning –wrote on Twitter: “It is right that the NatWest CEO has resigned.
“This would never have happened if NatWest had not taken it upon itself to withdraw a bank account due to someone’s lawful political views. That was and is always unacceptable.
“I hope the whole financial sector learns from this incident. Its role is to serve customers well and fairly – not to tell them how or what to think.”
Worth reading in full.
The BBC, Times, Telegraph and Guardian also have the story.
Now the Chairman of the Board, Sir Howard Davies, and the CEO of Coutts, Peter Flavel, have to go.
Well done Nigel – you’ve played a blinder. The chief executives of high street banks will be sending out company-wide memos this morning telling their employees not to de-bank anyone.
Watch me talking to Nigel about this sinister new form of cancel culture here.
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