IT IS hard to think how Coutts’s “reputational risk” committee could have inflicted more damage on the bank’s reputation than by recommending that Nigel Farage’s account be closed. When Farage first raised the charge that his account had been closed on political grounds, the bank let it be known that the problem was with his financial situation — itself hard to square with client confidentiality.
But after Farage released a dossier from the bank alleging that his views are seen as “xenophobic and racist” and “at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation”, it was clear that he had indeed been dropped because of his views. Leaving aside the irony that a bank which requires a client to have £3 million in savings or £1 million in loans sees itself as inclusive, what we have here is straightforward discrimination on the grounds of politics.
