Former banking chief says ‘grey area’ needs clearing up after Coutts shuts Farage account– business live

Former BBA boss Angela Knight ‘uncomfortable’ with bank’s decision to close the UK Independence party leader’s account over his views

Nigel Farage has taken aim at Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest, which owns Coutts.

Angela Knight, the former chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, said she found it “uncomfortable” to see a bank close someone’s account because of their political views, referring to Coutts bank’s decision to shut Nigel Farage’s account. She said it is a “grey area” that needs to be addressed.

We have long operated in this country, under a regime which I will define as: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,’ and I do find it somewhat uncomfortable to see a situation arise where because of somebody’s legitimate views, even though you may not agree with them, somehow has resulted in a service being withdrawn and they’re not being told about it. I mean, suppose a bank really does disagree with somebody’s behaviour, they should at least tell them. In this instance, what seems to have happened is that nothing was really fed in any way to the individual concerned.

We have freedom of speech in this country. So it is a bit of a grey area, and I do think it it is worthy of discussion and I think it’s something that has been coming for some time.