Cancelled bank accounts

[Workingman]

Ts & Cs, Kaz, they only apply to us ordinary customers in ordinary banks.

And, btw, Fromage is NOT a PEP as defined by UK regs, despite what he and the papers say.

[medsec222]

The whole episode with Coutts is at best mismanaged, at worst quite sinister. If they had wanted to close Nigal Farage's account through insufficient funds as they claimed, surely they could have written to him and offered him a personal account and a business account with NatWest. Instead there is a 40 page document, apparently, which states clearly that the Nigel Farage had sufficient funds in his account but then goes on to list numerous other reasons, some political, as to why Nigel Farage was not suitable to be a client of Coutts bank. It seems that someone within the organisation has taken the trouble to trawl through newspaper articles, social media comments etc. and picked out the very worst comments they could find about Nigel Farage. These are the opinions of random commentators, and presumably not the personal experience of the author of the 40 page document in any of his dealings with Nigel Farage, But nevertheless, the article was written for and on behalf of Coutts. One particular remark relating to Nigel Farage is that he is a grifter. What is meant by that? A grifter is described as someone who cheats people out of money, and if that is the case surely some proof should be provided. Banks have every right to investigate when they suspect faud or money laundering is occurring, but without such proof in Nigel Farage's case, perhaps the right approach should have been to downgrade his accounts and to respectively let him know.

[miasmum]

Completely agree Med Sec I think they might find themselves in a bit of bother

[jenniren]

I completely agree too Medsec.

[Workingman]

So where is this so-called 'vitriolic' document Farage 'claims' to have? He was quick out of the blocks with criticism when his account was closed, yet is a bit shy now. And why, in the immediate aftermath of his account closure, did he give an ambivalent interview with Sky regarding his ability to meet the funds needed; as was claimed by Coutts? Also, why did he not take up the offer from Coutts to roll-over his account to ones with their parent company, NatWest, when the offer was made?

He is now bleating that because he has no bank account that he cannot get a mortgage, an overdraft, a loan, pay his direct debits, buy online or write out cheques. What point his he trying to make? I think I know.

However, I agree with him about the above, and it is the reason I said earlier that nobody should be locked out of the banking system. Anyone locked out is unable to function in the modern world and that leaves them vulnerable. It is why we need a bank of last resort (BOLR) so that people in financial difficulties have a chance to get their finances back on track without resorting to loan sharks and their likes.

[Suff]

I agree with the BOLR.

On the Farage side, senior people do not step down if there is nothing wrong.

The most likely thing is a clear trail that she fostered a culture which leads to this kind of action and that this kind of action is negative for the business.

As for rolling over to the parent bank? NatWest is not the parent bank, RBS is regardless of marketing, the company is wholly owned by RBS as is NatWest.

Having worked at RBS twice I wouldn't bank with them. The financial crisis proved me right with that assessment t.