Nigel Farage rages at ‘whitewash’ debanking probe as he brands it ‘utter farce’

Nigel Farage talking to Camilla Tominey about bank account closures

Nigel Farage raged that a review into debanking by the regulator is a “total whitewash”.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said there was no evidence of bank accounts being closed due to the political views of customers.

But the former Ukip leader – who was at the centre of a debanking row after his Coutts account was shut which he claimed was for political reasons – branded the findings a “complete and utter farce”.

Speaking in a video posted on Twitter, Mr Farage said: “You’ll remember on that back on my debanking scandal that Andrew Griffith, the City Minister, spoke to the FCA and they said we’re going to do a review, we’re going to ask all the banks have you been debanking people for political reasons.

“Well the FCA have leaked to the Financial Times, by the way, the same Financial Times that wrote I had been debanked through lack of funds which was wrong.

READ MORE: Nigel Farage reflects on BBC Question Time clash with ‘rude’ Russell Brand

“And here it is on the front page: ‘FCA report finds no evidence of banks closing accounts for political reasons.’

“They say it’s very straightforward, nobody gets debanked because the primary reason is their politics.

“Didn’t they read the subject access request that I got back from Coutts?

“Haven’t they seen the other Ukip members, Conservative members and Brexit Party MEPs who’ve been debanked? It’s a list as long as your arm.

“And this gets to the heart of it. The FCA themselves are overtly political. They have been putting huge pressure on the banks and financial institutions to follow the diversity and inclusion agenda, yes of course that matters far more than protecting customers’ money.

“And because they are so political they can’t see bias where it exists.”

Mr Farage went on: “It’s a complete and utter farce, it is a total whitewash, it is a joke.

“Now the ball I think is firmly back in the court of the Government. Andrew Griffith and Jeremy Hunt this isn’t good enough.

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

“We need sackings of the board, we need people put in positions who aren’t overtly political. If we don’t have a proper regulator for our banking industry what hope is there?”

The FCA said the evidence it has gathered “suggests that no firm closed an account between July 2022 and June 2023 primarily because of a customer’s political views”.

It said it plans to work further with banks, building societies and payment companies to verify the data they supplied and better understand why and when they close accounts due to reputational risk.

The review came after Mr Farage went public in June about being cut off by prestigious private bank Coutts, which is owned by NatWest Group.

The Brexiteer used a subject access request to acquire a dossier indicating his account was shut down due to his political views.

Mr Farage has launched a crusade against debanking following his account being closed.

Source: Read Full Article