Coutts chief steps down after Nigel Farage furore

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Coutts chief govt Peter Flavel has stepped down, saying that he bore “final” accountability for the financial institution’s remedy of former UK Independence social gathering chief Nigel Farage.

The non-public financial institution and its proprietor, NatWest, have been engulfed in a disaster since Farage revealed final week that Coutts had closed his account partially due to his political opinions.

“Within the dealing with of Mr Farage’s case we now have fallen under the financial institution’s excessive requirements of private service,” Flavel mentioned in an announcement on Thursday. “As CEO of Coutts it’s proper that I bear final accountability for this, which is why I’m stepping down.”

The revelation prompted a livid political backlash and this week price NatWest chief govt Dame Alison Rose her job after she admitted to inaccurately briefing a BBC journalist over why Farage’s account was closed.

A 40-page dossier ready by Coutts’ wealth reputational threat committee and obtained by Farage was scathing in its criticism of his worldview.

“Persevering with to financial institution NF was [not] suitable with Coutts given his publicly-stated views that have been at odds with our place as an inclusive organisation,” the memo learn.

It additionally acknowledged that Farage used “excessive, hateful and emotive language . . . at finest he’s seen as xenophobic and pandering to racists”, and warned that the financial institution needed to be able to behave rapidly if he made “public feedback that created an elevated reputational threat”.

An individual with data of the financial institution mentioned that Flavel was not on the reputational threat committee himself, however would have made the choice to shut Farage’s account as head of the financial institution.

In an announcement made on Tuesday night, a number of hours earlier than her departure, Rose mentioned that she had not obtained the memo herself when she had spoken to the journalist and inaccurately prompt that Coutts’ resolution was primarily business.

NatWest chair Howard Davies additionally introduced an inner investigation into Coutts’ dealing with of Farage’s account, describing it as “unsatisfactory, with severe penalties for the financial institution”.

The departure of the Coutts’ head got here with the “mutual consent” of Paul Thwaite, marking his first main resolution on his first day as Rose’s interim successor as NatWest chief govt. The financial institution is because of report its half-year outcomes on Friday.

Thwaite mentioned that Mohammad Kamal Syed, head of asset administration, would change into interim chief govt at Coutts pending required approvals.

Following the information of Flavel’s departure, Farage wrote on Twitter that the “final accountability for the file de-banking me for my political opinions lies with him”. He additionally mentioned that he had written to Flavel twice earlier than going public earlier in July, with out receiving an acknowledgment from the chief govt. Coutts declined to touch upon that individual level.

The case has generated a wider debate over banks’ duties to prospects, together with “politically uncovered individuals” corresponding to politicians and relations. On Wednesday, senior executives on the UK’s largest lenders agreed to decide to upholding shoppers’ “freedom of expression” at a gathering with Metropolis minister Andrew Griffith.

Flavel joined Coutts as chief govt in March 2016 after main JPMorgan’s non-public wealth enterprise within the Asia-Pacific area. Since taking up he had sought to modernise the picture of the establishment previously generally known as the “Queen’s financial institution”, together with by enhancing its digital choices and placing a higher give attention to range.

In 2020, he turned head of a mixed wealth division, which incorporates NatWest Premier Banking, wealth supervisor Adams & Firm and army banking service Holt’s.