“Prejudiced and nasty” Nigel Farage…

[MangetoutsaysGetOutMan]

… doesn’t understand irony.

I work in banking, in compliance and have specifically covered financial crime including oversight of PEPs - I have never sought closure for awkward political views - the main requirement is additional due diligence due to heightened risk of bribery and corruption - not political views.

Quite. My experience is money laundering regs for corporate finance clients and while your heart sinks at a PEP, it's principally due to the additional documentation required. There's been some hefty fines for inadequate know your client procedures.

Irrespective of whether or not I like NF, banks closing customer accounts on the basis of political or other views is a very dangerous precedent. I hope that the FCA or appropriate regulatory body investigates the process Coutts carried out.

I work in banking, in compliance and have specifically covered financial crime including oversight of PEPs - I have never sought closure for awkward political views - the main requirement is additional due diligence due to heightened risk of bribery and corruption - not political views

It’s evident the document is poor. I wonder how someone that unskilled got into the position of writing it. And then others approving it.

Except the actual Coutts document states, in two places:

Following the declassification, the client's EC is now sufficient to retain on commercial basis

Although he is now declassed from higher risk Per status and so with his current risk status, he meets the EC criteria for commercial retention

The only other reference to EC criteria says:

the repayment of the debt however will mean the EC is likely to fall significantly in 24 months

So no definitive statement with regard to EC being not met but two clear statements EC was being met at the time of the report. And if EC criteria is definitely (the only legitimate reason they can point to) what the decision was made on - what on earth is the rest of the forty pages - detailing his Ricky Gervais retweets, Novak Djokovic friendship and quite liking Donald Trump all about?

The story grows Ms Rose who is a director apparently discussed this with a politician at a recent bun fest. NatWest was foolish to target Mr Farage, he may be able to sue the bank for a confidentiality breach! This is happening to ordinary people as well and needs to be stopped

It really is, shockingly, bad. I was quite taken aback at its lack of professionalism, general SPAG, and the language used.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=to72IJzQT5k&pp=ygUSaHlwZXJub3JtYWxpc2F0aW9u

114 minutes in, a left-wing political thinker in Germany predicted politicians in the management of a post political world, would be seen as dangerous.

More here https://twitter.com/Frances_Coppola/status/1681681198165229568?t=e1cbSdVGyfbwsqTKOIaiAA&s=19

He's had an account with them for 40 years and now, their own dossier reveals, they've closed it because of his political beliefs.

If you can't see the problem with that I can't help you.

114 minutes in, a left-wing political thinker in Germany predicted politicians in the management of a post political world, would be seen as dangerous.

It's heartening to hear that someone on the political left is awake.

Some dubious use of selective quotations there. The full document is in the public domain and it's explicit and clear that the decision to shift him was made first and that the mortgage would be used as the pretext.

Its not a stupid cake its the risk of anybody being locked out of an essential service.
The bank, by the way can classify your social status, hobbies, travel, etc just via the way you manage your money.

Bank ownership is shrinking to an increasingly small number so there are nolonger plenty of other banks.

And as bank managers in other banks want big bucks and posher jobs they will be happy to adopt the new religion and insist that you worship in the correct way too.

The BBC engaging in arse covering, I see.

They come for the likes of Nigel first with his unacceptable views and your everyday person eventually once they deem your views anti establishment.

Actually only Nigel Farage has seen this “36 page document” that he alleges were minutes from a Coutts meeting saying they closed his account due to his views.

If you can’t see a problem with mystery documents that Nigel Farage has refused to share with the BBC, then I can’t help you.

Sort of reminds me of mystery dossiers showing proof that Iraq had WMD that no one ever saw either…..

Already happening.

https://twitter.com/WingsScotland/status/1673371351942307840

People need to stop thinking about NF as they don't like him and think about the bigger picture as we head to a cashless society.

There are tons of banks and no one is going to be locked out of all banks.

This is not a good precedent and those applauding it are very short-sighted. It doesn't take much imagination to see that for instance prominent feminists could lose their bank accounts for stating biological reality.

I don't agree with many of Farage's views but he's perfectly entitled to them.

They already denied bank accounts. Co-op denied a group a bank account. Claire Fox had an account closed she is GC, there are others.

Also, and I'll be happy to be corrected if I've missed anything, Boris Johnson has come away with far more overtly racist statements than Farage ever has and he actually got to be PM.

Karma

They already denied bank accounts. Co-op denied a group a bank account. Claire Fox had an account closed she is GC, there are others.

That is worrying. It's like the Chinese social credit score but with extra rainbows.

Nat West offered a different Nat West account after Nat West decided NF did not meet the staffs Moral Values but the staff know NF has enough money to pay to sue Nat West.
Can you afford to take your bank to court if the staff decide you do not meet their Moral Values?

Yup. And the banks can see if you’ve made a crowd funder donation to the ‘wrong’ recipient, and banks do share information on customers.

It's been published, in full, by various newspapers. You can read it yourself if you're so inclined. The telegraph us behind a paywall I'm afraid, DM is not.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/19/coutts-full-dossier-on-nigel-farage-closed-bank-account/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12314423/amp/The-Coutts-Farage-dossier-bank-admitted-ex-Ukip-leader-DID-meet-commercial-criteria-used-tweet-Ricky-Gervais-trans-joke-Novak-Djokovic-ties-decide-odds-position-inclusive-organisation.html

He submitted a subject access request and those documents have been widely published, including the Telegraph. You know it would a be a huge risk for them to publish fabricated documents and attribute them to Coutts don't you.

It must be painful to acknowledge that someone you don't like has been treated unfairly but this is much bigger than NF. He's not the first or the only person this has happened and I doubt he will be he last.

The Iraq dossier was based on a 12 year old PhD thesis iirc and was published after the event.