We're now closing our live coverage of the row over Nigel Farage's bank account, which led to NatWest CEO Dame Alison Rose stepping down.

The early-hours resignation comes after days of mounting pressure over a decision to move Farage's account from the prestigious Coutts bank, which is owned by NatWest.

For our latest report, click here.

To read more about Dame Alison, click here.

For a look back at the government's involvement in the row, read our chief political correspondent Nick Eardley's latest story here.

This page was edited by Emma Owen and Heather Sharp. The writers were Dearbail Johnson, Jennifer McKiernan, James Harness, Malu Cursino and Emily Atkinson.

We'll shortly be closing our live coverage of the row over Nigel Farage's banking arrangements. Here's a recap of what's happened this morning:

• NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose stepped down in the early hours of the morning after admitting to being the source of an inaccurate BBC News story
• Farage told the BBC "it took a long time" for Dame Alison Rose to go, and has called for the whole Natwest board to resign after they backed her yesterday
• City Minister Andrew Griffith told the BBC is was right that she quit, saying it was "unacceptable" for NatWest to "withdraw a bank account due to someone’s lawful political views"

• Labour's Keir Starmer said she "had to resign" because NatWest "got this one wrong"- other Labour MPs said the government should act as strongly on their own internal discipline issues and loan sharks
• Banking chiefs who met with Griffith this morning acknowledged that recent events had impacted public trust in the sector - he urged them to act swiftly to apply new regulations

Katie Hope
BBC business digital editor

Image source, PA Media

The fallout over Nigel Farage’s bank account being closed is an insight into a key tenet of journalism - sourcing stories. Reporters have to be able to trust their sources and it's standard journalistic practice not to reveal who they are.

Dame Alison was said to have had dinner with the BBC’s business editor Simon Jack the night before he reported the reason for Farage’s account being closed was because he had fallen below the wealth threshold, citing a source familiar with the matter..

She did not confirm that the conversation had taken place at the dinner, but said on Monday she had made “a serious error” in discussing Farage’s relationship with the bank with Jack.

This was Dame Alison’s first admission that she had been involved in the story.

She said in conversations with Jack "she had confirmed that Farage was a Coutts customer and he had been offered a NatWest bank account". She said she had believed this was public knowledge.

The BBC is not commenting on the latest development in the story or who Jack’s source was.

However, in a letter from BBC News CEO Deborah Turness apologising to Farage for its inaccurate report, Turness said Jack had gone back to the source to check they were happy for the BBC to publish the information. They said they were.

Farage highlighted this as a discrepancy between the BBC's and Dame Alison’s account of what had happened.

Hours later, Dame Alison resigned.

Here's a bit more from the interview with City Minister Andrew Griffith.

He says it's important that lessons are learned from what has happened at NatWest.

At a meeting with bank and building society chiefs this morning, Griffith says he relayed the importance that "customers have trust in their banks, that they're not going to have their services withdrawn because of their political views."

He adds: "Its not the job of the bank to tell us what to think or what political party we should support,"

He called on the whole sector to swiftly implement the government's new regulations making it easier for customers to challenge account closures.

Natwest is part-owned by the taxpayer, and Griffith was asked whether, given the disruption to the bank, the government was putting political considerations ahead of the commercial interest of the taxpayer.

He replied: "No, I don't accept that... there's a very clear principle here at stake."

City minister Andrew Griffith doesn't think Natwest's chair should resign - because he's on the way out anyway.

"The chairman of NatWest is already stepping down," he has said in an interview with broadcasters.

"There's already a search under way... for his replacement. We should let that continue and then in due course, obviously, the bank will need to appoint a new chief executive" he added.

Natwest announced earlier this year that is had begun to search for Davies' successor and that he is expected to stand down by the middle of next year.

Paul Thwaite, who is chief executive of Natwest's business banking unit, will replace Alison Rose as group boss for an initial period of 12 months.

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

Here's a little bit more from that meeting between bank and building society chiefs and Andrew Griffith, who is the economic secretary to the Treasury and the city minister.

Banks and building societies will not have to give a 90-day termination notice in all circumstances if they intend to close a customer's account.

In the read-out from the meeting, the Treasury said that "shorter termination periods would be allowed where providers are obliged to comply with financial crime law".

There will also be limited exceptions to the requirement for a bank to spell out to a customer why their account has been closed: "For example to ensure that bank communications aren’t interfering with investigations into criminal activity."

Dearbail Jordan
Business reporter

The banks and building society heads who met with City Minister Andrew Griffith have all committed "to the principle of non-discrimination based on lawful freedom of expression".

Among the bank leaders who met with him was David Lindberg, chief executive of Natwest's retail banking group. Other attendees were from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide and Santander.

The lenders said they would bring their policies into line with reforms proposed by the government. These include giving a customer 90 days notice if the bank intends to close their account.

This would give customers more time to challenge a decision through the Financial Ombudsman Service or find a replacement bank.

Lenders will also have to spell out why they are terminating an account, which will boost transparency for customers and aid efforts to overturn decisions, the Treasury says.

We're just getting details of what was discussed and agreed between Economic Secretary Andrew Griffith and UK bank and building society chiefs in their meeting this morning.

They came together to talk about "the importance of protecting lawful freedom of expression for customers accessing banking services".

During the meeting, banks and building societies "acknowledged that recent events had impacted upon public trust for the whole sector".

They pledged to "act quickly to restore confidence".

Two MPs have told the BBC they have been refused bank accounts due to being considered a Politically Exposed Person (PEP), which puts them at higher risk of bribery and corruption.

The first MP said the problem was "absolutely rife" in banking and they'd had "no joy" trying to open a bank account for office expenditure and it made things "too complicated" to open a joint account.

A second MP said they'd been warned by a predecessor that "I would have an awful lot of trouble like this", adding "loads of colleagues are facing the same".

They said: "One bank turned me down when I was applying for a remortgage earlier this year on the basis that I was a PEP.

"Even being accepted involved much longer for them to do extra checks.

"I also had to change accountants because they would no longer take me on."

Image source, PA Media

City minister Andrew Griffith is meeting with the leaders of banks and payment services companies now to discuss the termination of customer accounts and "freedom of expression".

In a letter asking lenders and other related firms to attend, Griffith wrote: "The government is unequivocal that banks and other payment service providers – which occupy a privileged place in society – should not be terminating contracts of payment account facilities on grounds relating to users’ exercising of their right to lawful freedom of expression."

One banking leader who won't be going is Charlie Nunn, chief executive of Lloyds, who has spent this morning discussing the company's results.

But he's not too concerned. Nunn said: "Our policy is really clear. We don't include looking at political beliefs, or personal beliefs, as part of that policy."

On Tuesday NatWest's chair Sir Howard Davies said that the board "retains full confidence" in Alison Rose as the bank's chief executive.

By very early on Wednesday morning, she was gone.

Nigel Farage reckons that more heads should roll over the debacle. Would that include the chair?

Davies has a lot of experience overseeing banks.

He was the first chair of the Financial Services Authority, the city watchdog which regulated the industry between 2001 and 2013.

He held the role between 1997 and 2003, leaving well before the global banking crisis nearly crashed the world economy.

Davies has been chair of NatWest since 2015. Earlier this year, Natwest announced it would begin a search for Davies's successor and he would step down in the middle of 2024.

But could that date now be brought forward?

NatWest is the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 share index in London this morning, leading other banks lower.

NatWest's share price has fallen by nearly 3% to 243.9p each.

Lloyds Banking Group has also seen its share price drop, down 2.5% to 44.87p each. Although that could be more to do with the fact that it published financial results on Wednesday morning and its profits did not rise as much as expected.

Barclays' share price slid by 1.6% ahead of its own results which will be released at 07:00am on Thursday morning.

And then on Friday, NatWest will publish its results.

Alison Rose is no longer a member of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s business council, No 10 has said after her resignation as NatWest’s chief executive.

She's also been removed from the government's energy efficiency taskforce and the net zero council.

A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: "Following the news overnight, the Secretary of State has asked Dame Alison Rose to step down from her roles as co-chair of the energy efficiency taskforce and as a member of the net zero council, and she has resigned."

More from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live.

Responding to Nicky Campbell's question about whether there's a broader issue of people being "de-banked", Starmer says he doesn't know "the extent" of the practice.

But, he says: "As a broad principle, nobody should be refused banking because of their political views."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said former NatWest chief Dame Alison Rose "had to resign" because NatWest "got this one wrong".

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, he said: "I think that's fairly straightforward.

"[Nigel Farage] shouldn't have had his personal details revealed like that.

"It doesn't matter who you are, that's a general rule."

If you missed it, here's more of Nigel Farage speaking to Nick Robinson on Radio 4's Today programme earlier.

Farage accuses banks of monitoring people's social media and says "lives have been ruined".

At this stage, we simply don't know - but the BBC has contacted NatWest and asked.

What we do know is that Dame Alison Rose's remuneration was at risk when she admitted "a serious error in judgement" after she said she discussed Nigel Farage's relationship with the bank with the BBC's business editor Simon Jack.

In a statement released just hours before Rose's resignation, NatWest's chair Sir Howard Davies said: "The events will be taken into account in decisions on remuneration at the appropriate time."

Rose was paid £5.25m last year. That includes £2.4m in fixed pay, a £643,000 bonus and £2.1m in share payments.

Earlier Nigel Farage spoke to the BBC's Today programme

Here's a clip where Farage says it had taken a "long time" for NatWest CEO Dame Alison Rose to step aside.

He says anybody in a more junior position at the bank would have been "out of the door".

Labour MP Nick Thomas-Symonds said the government's speed in dealing with Nigel Farage's former bank was "quite remarkable", particularly when compared to dealing with its internal discipline problems.

Speaking on the Today programme, he said: "I do question this speed with which the prime minister and the chancellor, under pressure from outside, have acted to get involved in this matter."

The shadow international trade secretary added: "When it came to putting their own house in order, when it came to dealing with Gavin Williamson, Nadim Zahawi, Dominic Raab, they dragged their feet.

"If only they showed that same efficiency, that same speed, dealing with their own internal problems as they did last night."

Labour MP Stella Creasy is also questioning the government's motives - and says ministers should instead be helping people avoid debt.

She posted, external: "The same Tory minister Andrew Griffith acting to protect Nigel Farage's bank account... is absent from protecting 8 million Brits with debts with Buy Now Pay Later companies."

The Walthamstow MP added: "If only this government would apply the same haste and attention to helping those struggling with these legal loan sharks."