NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose quits after row over Nigel Farage account

NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose has resigned hours after admitting she had made a mistake in speaking about Nigel Farage's relationship with the bank.

She had been heavily criticised for being the source of an inaccurate BBC report about Mr Farage's account at Coutts, which is part of NatWest Group.

The announcement came just hours after NatWest said it had full confidence in her in continuing to lead the bank.

Dame Alison had admitted a "serious error of judgment".

In a statement released early on Wednesday morning, NatWest Group chairman Sir Howard Davies said: "The board and Alison Rose have agreed, by mutual consent, that she will step down as chief executive of the NatWest Group.

"It is a sad moment."

In a separate statement, Dame Alison thanked her colleagues "for all that they [had] done", saying: "I remain immensely proud of the progress the bank has made in supporting people, families and business across the UK, and building the foundations for sustainable growth."

NatWest shares fell more then 2.5% after the announcement. Dame Alison was paid £5.25m last year. Whether Dame Alison will get a severance payment will emerge in the banking group's next report on pay.

Chair Sir Howard said hours before Dame Alison resigned that it was in the interest of shareholders and customers that she stayed on as chief executive. It is understood he intends to remain as chair.

Following her resignation, ex UKIP leader Mr Farage told the BBC it had taken a long time for Dame Alison to resign.

"The first rule of banking is client confidentiality. She [Dame Alison] clearly broke that."

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

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Dame Alison had come under mounting pressure from Downing Street, the chancellor and other senior cabinet ministers to resign, with the BBC told there were "significant concerns" over her conduct.

Mr Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party and a Brexiteer, first reported in early July that his account had been closed and said he had not been given a reason.

The BBC reported that it was closed because he no longer met the wealth threshold for Coutts, citing a source familiar with the matter. It has since apologised for its inaccurate report.

Mr Farage subsequently obtained a document looking at his suitability as a Coutts customer.

The 40-page document flagged concerns that he was "xenophobic and racist", and also questioned the reputational risk of having Mr Farage as a client. It said that to have Mr Farage as a customer was not consistent with Coutts' "position as an inclusive organisation" given his "publicly stated views".

Mr Farage had highlighted what he said was a discrepancy between the BBC's apology on Monday from its chief executive Deborah Turness, which said the BBC had gone back to the source to check the information, and NatWest's statement on Tuesday. "There is no way, if the BBC went back for a second time to confirm the story, that they would not have checked that it was the balance of my account that led to that commercial decision," he said.

Confidentiality key

City minister Andrew Griffith said it was "right" that Dame Alison had resigned from NatWest, which is 39% owned by the taxpayer.

"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," he said.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC that "NatWest got this one wrong, and that's why Alison Rose had to resign".

Freddy Colquhoun, investment director at the wealth management company JM Finn, told 5 Live's Wake up to Money the resignation was inevitable: "I think as soon as you lose the confidence of Downing Street, who is also a major shareholder, then something needs to change quite quickly.

"Confidentiality, it is one of the major pillars of trust between the clients and the bank."

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC that "NatWest got this one wrong, and that's why Alison Rose had to resign."

Dame Alison said she had not revealed any personal financial information about Mr Farage, but admitted she had left the BBC's business editor Simon Jack "with the impression that the decision to close Mr Farage's accounts was solely a commercial one."

She said she was wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about the case.

Following her resignation the government said she was also "no longer a member of the Prime Minister's business council".

She was also asked to step down from the government's energy efficiency taskforce and the net zero council.

While at NatWest, one of changes she made was to end new loans to oil and gas companies.

Paul Thwaite, NatWest's current chief executive of its commercial and institutional business, will take over Dame Alison's responsibilities for an initial period of 12 months, pending regulatory approval.

Public trust warning

On Wednesday Mr Griffith had a meeting with some of the largest banks and building societies "to discuss the importance of protecting lawful freedom of expression for customers".

The Treasury said bank bosses had acknowledged that "recent events" had hit "public trust for the whole sector".

The bosses agreed to bring bank policies in line with planned rules to make it easier for customers to find out why their bank accounts had been closed and challenge the decisions.

Charlie Nunn, the boss of Lloyds Banking Group, said he had not been able to attend the meeting, but had "no concerns" about pressure over de-banking policies.

"Our policy is really clear. We don't include looking at political beliefs, or personal beliefs, as part of that policy," he said.