FCA continues review into NatWest after 'potential regulatory breaches' identified over Coutts incident

investmentweek.co.uk:

The report found Coutts failed to pay due regard to the interests of Farage and 'failed to treat him fairly', which 'might also amount to a regulatory breach, but is a matter for the relevant regulator to decide'.

The review was commissioned by NatWest following pushback on  Coutts' decision to close former MP Nigel Farage's account. Coutts is NatWest's private banking arm.

Carried out by Travers Smith, the first stage of the review was published today (27 October), and determined that although the bank thought it was acting with clear rationale, the merits of those decisions were questionable.

The review concluded that while the decision to close the former MP's account was clear to NatWest based on the «commercial rationale», there were other factors involved, «foremost among those other factors was the risk Coutts perceived to its reputation in the eyes of it stakeholders, including other customers, staff and investors, on account of being seen to be providing banking services to the client, given his public statements on issues such as the environment, race, gender and migration».

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However, Travers Smith's report noted that the assumed reputational risk of allowing Farage to hold a bank account were not the driving factors behind the decision to close said account, as it was «highly probable that the exit decision would not have been made had Coutts deemed the relationship with the client to be commercially viable».

But the report still said Coutts failed to pay due regard to the interests of Farage and «failed to treat him fairly», which «might also amount to a regulatory breach, but is a matter for the relevant regulator to decide».

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