Nigel Farage, the former UKIP and Brexit Party leader at the centre of the NatWest de-banking scandal that led to CEO Dame Alison Rose’s resignation, has declared war on woke banks, announcing a new movement to bring about change. Here’s an excerpt from his article in the Telegraph.
As I have said before, the only reason I decided to go public – and ultimately cause myself quite a fair degree of embarrassment – is that I realised over the last couple of years that many people had wrongly had their bank account closed. Since I told my own story this month, I have been inundated with tales from others in genuine distress who have also suffered the indignity of being “de-banked”. I have encouraged all of them to make a Subject Access Request to establish why this happened. …
British taxpayers bailed out the banks after the greed and stupidity of executives crashed the system 15 years ago. In return, these same banks have closed hundreds of branches around the country in order to swell their profits, ruined the lives of many by ‘de-banking’ them, and embarked on a holier-than-thou greenwashing exercise as a way of hoodwinking the public into thinking they are caring and responsible. Bluntly, the banks have spat in the faces of the people who should matter most to them, their clients.
Now it is time to fight back. A common feeling that has been expressed to me over these past few weeks is one of helplessness bordering on despair. It is clear that nobody has been speaking up for everyday people. Now, I intend to be their voice and to campaign for the cultural and legal changes that our banking system needs. Every law-abiding citizen in this country should have the right to a bank account. The resignation of Dame Alison Rose is the first step to ensuring this can happen. Banks must return to operating as they used to do. Then – and only then – can we return to business as usual.
I am now seriously motivated by this issue. The desperation of those that have been wronged by the big banks means that I simply have to do something. I may not have picked this fight, but I now find myself right in the middle of it. I will be launching, over the course of the next few days, an exercise designed to gather together all of those that have been de-banked. I’m hoping to build a very large database of cases to find out which banks are the worst offenders and what the commonest reasons are, so that we can prepare and present a lobby to ministers, and to Parliament, in order to achieve fundamental change.
It might be said that the cultural problem within our banks has, so far at least, only affected a small proportion of the population. But if these institutions continue to believe they can become moral arbiters, monitoring the social media profiles of account holders, the numbers affected will quickly grow. Our current rulebook, backed up by aggressive compliance departments, has proved to be a sledgehammer that has missed the nut. It isn’t money launderers but innocent people who are paying the price. It simply cannot continue.
I will be asking people out there to come and join me. Let’s fight this.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: The Chief Executive of Coutts has resigned with immediate effect over the bank’s mishandling of Farage’s account, the Telegraph reports. Peter Flavel, who became boss of Coutts in 2016, said the treatment of Farage had “fallen below the bank’s high standards of personal service”. Meanwhile Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declined to say whether he had confidence in NatWest Group Chairman Sir Howard Davies.
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