Absolutely.
Farage is all about denying people opportunity because they have brown skin or a funny accent, yet when Coutts take a business decision that they do not wish to be associated with him he goes all whingey and tries to claim he’s being cancelled.
One rule for me, one for “them”
Odious t*rd
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But he wasn’t refused banking services because of his politics!! There is no evidence of that.
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Exactly.
He tried ferment trouble by making out that it was about politics, whereas he simply appears to have not had enough dosh to be of value to a stuck-up institution such as Coutts.
He really is an oxygen thief.
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Here’s his SAR report that he’s shared publicly, if anyone hasn’t already done so but wants to read it…
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I said “[What if] someone like Jeremy Corbyn, or Mick Lynch, were refused banking services because of his politics?”
I have heard arguments both ways and, to be honest, you’re going to have to disagree on the subject of whether the withdrawal was based on perceived risk about politics or a commercial decision. Unfortunately, it seems that most people’s interpretation is based on whether they like Farage.
Which is why I phrased my question to make it clear I was talking about principles, not personalities.
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Personally having read the SAR I think it’s a little bit of both.
PS - I think Corbyn is just as divisive a figure as Farage 
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@JaneJones, @Fleur and @kirsteastevenson have pointed out correctly, the fact is Farage is not a “high net worth individual”
Coutts banking requires a minimum deposit, assets of at least £1 million, or plan to borrow or invest at least £1 million with Coutts. This could be through a mortgage or investment product.
That means you must maintain a minimum deposit or investment with the bank of £1,000,000 at all times. In addition to this there is also an annual fee of £900 a year for the privilege of holding a Coutts account.
I am thinking maybe Farage was no longer up to this level of investment and that is why Coutts redirected him to Nat West, of which Coutts is a subsidiary.
Farage has form being economical with the truth for his own political gain. Tut tut……
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If, and it is if, he was refused because of his politics rather than because he was now too poor or such, which given I had understood he’d been offered other accounts within the NatWest group seems possible, it would be because his views, and connections, had made him a more risky prospect. It seems bizarre to state the obvious, but banks only care about one thing: 
. No one really ever gets refused because the bank doesn’t like their first name or the tie they wore when they got married, it’s because they think you’re too risky a prospect for them to bet on. Arguably these days it’s a more equal process than it used to be as you can’t go and glad hand the bank manager, you either pass or fail, live or die, by the algorithm. Infamously the only way the incredibly rich and incredibly famous got any kind of special treatment from Barclays was by going to Jes Staley, he was one of only a handful of people who could potentially override ‘the system’.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all commenting on the previous comment if Jeremy Corbyn and Mick Lynch were seen as highly risky to banks, and potentially ended up in the same situation, because however ethical they may or may not be in in their own lives, they’re PEPs and so have all manner of connections and dealings which have the potential to blow up in the face of their bank in a spectacular fashion. If Farage has connections to Russia, and the UK is currently sanctioning various people with Russian ties, freezing assets etc, it doesn’t seem unreasonable that would be a huge black mark. No one’s immune either, I would expect lots of wincing and cringing in Prince Charles’ (I still call him that by default 
) bank after the revelations of suitcases of cash from Saudi former PMs, because it opens them up to all manner of things potentially, whether there’s actually evidence of something today or not.
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Excellent point!
I read this FT article earlier which discussed this very thing, although the examples they gave were linked to the US than the UK.
Rules around high-risk UK bank customers exposed by Nigel Farage’s sp_ - www.ft.com.pdf (1.2 MB)
You’re making an insinuation without providing any evidence. The facts point in a completely different direction.
As indeed the FT article suggests.
Unless you want to pursue a conspiracy theory.
(Edited.)
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He said on Newsnight yesterday he had been turned down by ten banks. Refused to name any of them of course. Coutts also said Fartrage’s account was due to fall below of their financial thresholds as he was due to pay off his mortgage. Newsnight worth watching for this piece.
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Ok then. If you say so.
It might help to read the SAR response @Gareth posted, in which the bank said, “The paper was right to mention the Russian allegations and potential Russian connections NF had, but there was nothing substantive in that regard.”
Of course, we know differently, eh? 
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Nigel Farage gets apology from banking boss in Coutts row
I think, unfortunately, you misunderstood my post. I wasn’t actually aware that was even a consideration, I was just trying to give an example as to why any bank could be concerned with doing business with him. The ‘if’ at the start of the bit about Farage was suggesting conjecture as I know nothing, I was just using one of the few things I have heard about him that could be of concern. I guess I could have used Aaron Banks and some of his connections instead. You took a random example, and made much more of it than I had intended.
I assume we is like the royal we, meaning you? ‘Cause I know nothing about Farage, as I thought I’d made obvious, my only interest in this story at all is from the finance side.
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Gotta give it to Old Nige, some of us have been saying, and campaigning, for years about these rules, and the rules around tipping off when it comes to account freezing and closures, with very little interest from anyone. He spits his dummy and they change the rules immediately.
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I like this. Coutts is clearing its name without denying the validity of what it said of Farage.
I note
Banks will be forced to explain why they are closing bank accounts and will have to give a notice period of 90 days before closing an account, to allow people more time to appeal against the decision.
After 90 days and some excuse it will still close the account of an ‘undesirable’ client:
Letter no.886250
No, it would appear that other banks don’t want to do business with the man who inflicted the most damage on Britain since Hitler too. I can’t imagine why.
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