NatWest backs CEO after acknowledging ‘serious error’ over Farage leak

LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) – NatWest (NWG.L) CEO Alison Rose has admitted a “serious error of judgement” when speaking to a senior BBC reporter about former Brexit chief Nigel Farage’s relationship with the bank, but the lender’s board said she still had its backing.

The taxpayer-backed lender has come under intense political and media scrutiny over its private bank Coutts’ decision to close Farage’s accounts, after the politician-turned-broadcaster obtained an internal document saying it was partly because his views were not “aligned” with those of the bank.

Rose has also faced days of speculation that she discussed Farage’s account with public broadcaster BBC – something she first admitted on Tuesday.

Farage hit back at NatWest’s statement on his eponymous GB News TV show and criticized Rose as “unfit” to run a bank, along with NatWest chairman Howard Davies and Coutts CEO Peter Flavel.

“The government should say we have no trust in this management. Frankly, I think they should all leave,” he said, after saying Rose had breached an “essential trust”.

Davies said earlier in a NatWest statement that Rose retained the “full confidence” of the bank’s board, adding that she would commission an independent review of the matter.

Davies hinted that Rose – whose total salary package jumped nearly 50% to £5.2m in 2022 – could see his bonuses blocked at the end of the year, saying the events would be taken into account “in decisions on pay”.

Rose confirmed in the statement that she had discussed Farage’s “relationship with the bank” with BBC editor Simon Jack.

“I recognize that in my conversations with the BBC’s Simon Jack I made a serious error in judgement,” Rose said, but added that she did not reveal any personal financial information about Farage and answered a general question about eligibility.

On Monday, the BBC also apologized to Farage, after initially reporting that he had fallen below the financial threshold required to be a client at Coutts in a story Jack later described as “incomplete and inaccurate”.

The Coutts website advises customers to be able to borrow or invest at least £1m from the bank or hold £3m in savings.

Farage said the BBC and NatWest statements were “contradictory”.

Rose also said she was not part of the decision-making process to “leave” Farage’s accounts and said it was a decision made by Coutts.

Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had urged NatWest’s board to look into the matter independently and welcomed its statement.

“It is essential that the review is adequately resourced and that those conducting it have access to all the information and people necessary to investigate what happened quickly and fully,” said Sheldon Mills, FCA’s executive director of consumer and competition.

The UK Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UK Financial Services Minister Andrew Griffith is due to meet with lenders tomorrow to discuss concerns that banks closed customer accounts because of their political views, ahead of reforms forcing banks to explain and delay such decisions.

Reporting by Iain Withers and Sinead Cruise Editing by Simon Jessop, Mark Potter, William Maclean

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