Come clean on scale of debanking, FCA urged

Scandal: Former NatWest boss Alison Rose

A complete list of UK bank account closures must be made public in the wake of the Alison Rose-Nigel Farage debanking scandal, a leading business group is demanding this weekend.

More than a million accounts have been shut since 2019 and the banks are in line this year to beat the previous record of 343,500 set in 2022.

These figures, exclusively revealed by The Mail on Sunday, were only obtained under a Freedom of Information request. Now campaigners are urging City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which collects such details, to come clean on the scale of debanking.

The extent of the problem was exposed this year when high-end bank Coutts, which is owned by NatWest, shut down the former Ukip leader’s account without explanation. NatWest, and its then-boss Rose denied it was due to his political views, though subsequent disclosures by the bank revealed it had been a factor.

The Farage case highlighted the fact that banks can shut an account with just 14 days’ notice if they suspect it is being used to launder money, leaving innocent customers stranded.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is now calling on the watchdog to commit to releasing data on debanking every three months.

‘It’s a shame the FCA has not yet committed to quarterly publication of anonymised data on closures,’ said Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the FSB. ‘Regular data on how widespread the issue is, and whether certain demographics are more affected than others, is very much needed.’

The call comes two days after Farage dismissed as a ‘whitewash’ a report that ruled NatWest did not break the law when it shut down his Coutts account.

The review by City law firm Travers Smith found ‘serious failings’ in the way the former Ukip and Brexit Party leader was ‘debanked’, but said it was mainly a commercial decision. A separate report by the Information Commissioner said Rose breached Farage’s right to privacy when briefing a BBC journalist about his account.

The NatWest board still has to decide what pay-off – if any – she should receive. She earned £5.2 million last year.

The Government plans to give customers up to 90 days to challenge closures, with banks obliged to explain themselves. But campaigners and victims claim this is still unfair to the thousands of individuals, small businesses and charities abruptly debanked despite doing nothing wrong.

They say there should be clear evidence of criminality.

The FCA said it would report its findings by the middle of next year.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk