Treasury minister meets banking bosses while welcoming NatWest resignation
Andrew Griffith (pictured) is the economic secretary to the Treasury.
The minster met with the chief executives of Barclays, HSBC and Nationwide among others today (26 July) to discuss the importance of protecting lawful freedom of expression for customers accessing banking services.
Referring to former UKIP leader Nigel Farage's political views, Griffith said legal freedom of expression is a fundamental right in the UK and that the idea that a person could face having their account terminated for expressing as such was «wholly unacceptable».
He said: «This would never have happened if NatWest had not taken it upon itself to withdraw a bank account due to someone's lawful political views. That was and is always unacceptable.
»I hope the whole financial sector learns from this incident. Its role is to serve customers well and fairly — not to tell them how or what to think."
FCA responds to NatWest CEO stepping down over Farage row
The statement comes after NatWest's CEO Alison Rose resigned today after admitting she leaked inaccurate information about Farage's finances to the BBC.
Griffith outlined a number of government reforms to strengthen personal payment account termination rules and explored how banks consider and implement terminations today, recognising the need to protect ongoing compliance with financial crime rules.
The intended reforms will increase termination notice periods to 90 days — giving customers more time to challenge a decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service or find a replacement bank.
Meanwhile, shorter termination periods would be allowed where providers are obliged to comply with financial crime law, or in line with existing general principles of contract law.
Banks must also be
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