Farage makes new allegations against Coutts over bank account closures

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has obtained documents that he claims show that private bank Coutts, part of taxpayer-backed bank NatWest (NWG.L), sought to close his accounts on political grounds.

In a video posted on Twitter on Tuesday, Farage said he received a 40-page document from Coutts after filing a \“subject access request\” with the bank, to learn more about its rationale for proposing to shutter the accounts.

Reuters has not independently verified the documents cited by Farage.

A Coutts spokesperson told Reuters that its ability to respond to Farages latest claims were restricted by obligations to protect client confidentiality.

\“Decisions to close accounts are not taken lightly and take into account a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements,\” the spokesperson said.

British banks are in the spotlight as the UK government has begun looking into concerns over them allegedly blacklisting certain customers over their politics.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told parliament on Wednesday that \“it wouldnt be right\” for banks to deny services to those exercising the right to lawful free speech, adding that the government was tightening the rules around account closures.

Under planned reforms, banks will have to give customers three-months notice of account closures.

Financial services minister Andrew Griffith said on Twitter that while businesses had a right to protect against reputational risks, banks in a democracy had a \“duty not to debank because you disagree with someones views.\”

REPUTATIONAL RISK

The Mail Online on Wednesday published what it said were the full documents cited by Farage, which showed that Coutts wealth reputational risk committee had decided to cut ties with Farage after a mortgage he had taken out had expired.

The document, as published by the Mail Online, said the bank was ending the relationship \“on commercial grounds\”, and referred to the extra cost of managing the accounts of high profile individuals.

But the document, first reported by The Daily Telegraph, also cited at length other \“risk factors including... controversial public statements which were felt to conflict with the banks purpose\”.

Farage said on Twitter that \“Brexit\”, \“Russia\” and \“Donald Trump\” were mentioned multiple times in the documents he obtained and that Coutts had said \“the clients [Farages] financial position is now sufficient to retain on a commercial basis\”.

Farage told Reuters on Wednesday the issue \“raises very broad questions about our banks and how deeply political they have become.\”

\“A lot of people in prominent political roles will be scratching their heads and thinking will I be next？,\” he said.

Farage previously said he believed it was because he was deemed a \“politically exposed person\” (PEP), meaning banks have to apply additional scrutiny to accounts.

Reuters previously reported that Coutts was closing Farages accounts mainly for commercial reasons, citing a source familiar with the matter.

The BBC previously reported Farage had fallen below the financial threshold required to be a customer of the private bank - something Farage said he had had no knowledge of.