Nigel Farage says Coutts has offered to reinstate his bank accounts: ‘Fight goes on’

Nigel Farage said Coutts has offered to reinstate his personal and business accounts, with the former Ukip leader also seeking compensation from the private bank. Mr Farage said the ‘fight goes on’ as he outlined his desire for a face-to-face meeting with the bank’s bosses in a bid to understand how many other people have been affected by account closures. The former MEP said his bank account was unfairly shut down by Coutts, owned by NatWest Group, because it did not agree with his political views. I want to find out how many other people in Coutts or NatWest have had accounts closed because of their political opinions, and I want to make sure this never happens to anybody else ever again. NatWest has since announced an independent review, with lawyers probing the closure of Mr Farage’s account and other instances of de-banking by Coutts. Mr Farage, speaking on his GB News programme, said: ‘The new CEO of Coutts, Mo Syed, somebody who has held very senior positions within that bank, is now the boss and he has written to me to say I can keep both my personal and my business accounts. ‘And that’s good and I thank him for it.’ But Mr Farage said ‘enormous harm’ has been done to him in the last few months. He added: ‘It has taken up a huge amount of my time and it has cost me, so far, quite a lot of money in legal fees so I have today sent a legal litigation letter to Coutts where I want some full apologies, I want some compensation for my costs, but – more important than all of that – I want a face-to-face meeting with the bank’s bosses. ‘I want to find out how many other people in Coutts or NatWest have had accounts closed because of their political opinions, and I want to make sure this never happens to anybody else ever again. ‘So the fight goes on.’ Mr Farage’s crusade against NatWest has led to the resignation of chief executive Dame Alison Rose and Coutts boss Peter Flavel, with his campaign on account closures receiving support from ministers and Tory MPs.