Thousands Claim Their Bank Accounts Were Shut Down

Nigel Farage caused a political storm in the UK last year when he revealed that NatWest had closed his accounts for political reasons, including his links to Trump and the fact that his views do not “align” with the bank’s values.

With more than 3,000 individuals claiming to have had their accounts closed, Brexit leader Nigel Farage is contemplating taking the lead in a class action lawsuit challenging British lenders’ “debanking” tactics.

After it came to light that she had leaked the Brexit leader’s private financial details to the BBC while falsely attempting to claim that the decision to debunk Farage was not political, the scandal led to the sacking of Dame Alison Rose, the CEO of NatWest.

The controversy prompted Mr. Farage to launch a campaign for Britons unfairly debanked due to political motives or problems like banks’ reluctance to deal with cash businesses. 

Nearly 3,000 individuals have informed the campaign that they feel they were debanked, as revealed a little over six months later. Among those who contacted the campaign, 19.2% of those who claimed to have been debanked mentioned NatWest. 

Additionally, 57 customers claimed that their accounts had been unfairly closed by Coutts, a NatWest subsidiary that had previously dealt with Mr. Farage’s accounts. 

Lloyds had 172 claims, Barclays 41, and HSBC with 245. Each financial institution insisted that it does not terminate customers’ accounts because of political differences.

According to Mr. Farage, he has asked attorneys to investigate the likelihood of criminal charges against NatWest and has informed that there is “a genuine possibility” of a class action lawsuit.

After a report claimed that Mr. Farage’s views did not align with the bank’s values, Coutts, whose clients include members of the Royal Family, dropped him as a customer last June. It used the fact that he shared a Ricky Gervais joke that it called “transphobic” as evidence.

Staff at NatWest secretly called him a “crackpot” and boasted that they may have “driven him out of the country,” according to a bombshell document that dropped later. Mr. Farage, amid escalating political controversy, established the website AccountClosed.org to determine how the problem of individuals losing their bank accounts has grown.