Brexit chief Nigel Farage is considering leading a class action against the lender’s “debankment” practices, which he claims have caused more than 3,000 people in the UK to have their accounts closed.
Last year, Nigel Farage revealed his NatWest Banking Group account was closed for political reasons, including links to former president Donald Trump and expressing views “not consistent” with those of the bank. , which caused a political uproar in Britain. values. The scandal led to the sacking of NatWest CEO Dame Alison Rose. It comes as it emerged she had leaked the Brexit leader’s personal financial details to the BBC in a bid to falsely claim that her decision to abolish Mr Farage’s bank account was not political.
In the wake of the scandal, Mr Farage launched a campaign on behalf of British people who have been unfairly deprived of their bank accounts for political reasons or for issues such as banks refusing to work with cash trading businesses. More than six months later, it has been revealed that he has told his campaign team that he believes nearly 3,000 people have had their bank accounts debited.
according to to sunday mail, NatWest was cited most often by people who claimed their bank accounts were debited, accounting for 19.2 per cent of those who contacted the campaign. A further 57 people claimed their accounts were wrongly closed by NatWest subsidiary Coutts, the same bank that closed Mr Farage’s account. Barclays was next with 412, followed by HSBC with 245 and Lloyds with 172. Both banks insisted they would not close accounts over political differences.
Mr Farage said in an interview with the newspaper:Accountclosed.org Now, it could be a very powerful tool to fight back against the demonetization scandal and shows the seriousness of the problem. ”
“The possibility of a class action lawsuit is very real. It’s worth noting that NatWest is one of the worst offenders, according to research,” he added.
Brexiteer Nigel Farage officially launches campaign against big bankshttps://t.co/F6QGwa3n5Z
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 30, 2023
The Brexit chief went on to say he had instructed lawyers to investigate whether NatWest had broken any laws by closing the account. Mr Farage will also begin legal proceedings against NatWest in the coming days if it refuses to settle claims, cover legal costs and pledge never to close customer accounts again for political reasons. He said it was planned.
The potential lawsuit could threaten the government’s plans to sell bank shares owned by taxpayers. NatWest received a £45.5bn bailout during the 2008 financial crisis and is now 40% owned by British nationals.
“I do not believe this organization is suitable for a public sale of stock until it calms down its issues with me, shows that a culture change will occur within the organization, and proves that change will occur.” “New management style” Mr. Farage Said telegraph paper last week.
“There has been no change in the culture at the bank. They are paying £350 million in bonuses to the same people who abused me. I feel like my efforts with this organization have been in vain. It won’t.
“I’ve been preparing court papers for some time and I’m going to issue them unless they want to have a sensible discussion, which would actually make a public sale of the stock very difficult.”
NatWest apologized to Mr Farage and said his experience had fallen “below the standards customers would expect”. However, the bank acknowledged that customers could be “frustrated” if their accounts were closed, but said it was “legally held to be “We do not remove customers based on their political views or beliefs.” at least.
Bankers elated, praise, internal messages show the end of Farage bankinghttps://t.co/NLuiGtYY04
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 24, 2023
