Dame Alison Rose, the former chief executive of NatWest Group, will lose out on £7.6m after she admitted to discussing the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account with a BBC journalist.
Another word for getting the sack?
She ‘resigned’ from the banking group in July 2023, after the former Ukip leader complained about a BBC report that claimed his accounts with Coutts, a private bank owned by NatWest, were closed for commercial reasons.
Apology
The BBC later apologised and amended its story, saying that it had checked with a senior source, whom Dame Alison later confirmed was herself, that Mr Farage’s accounts were closed because he fell below Coutts’s wealth threshold.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) initially suggested that Dame Alison had breached data privacy laws by confirming Mr Farage’s banking arrangements, but later issued a formal apology, saying it was ‘incorrect’ and that it had not investigated her.
Pay deal of £2.4 million
Dame Alison will receive her £2.4 million fixed pay package but will not benefit from share awards and bonuses she had previously been entitled to.
Her saga reportedly wiped £850m off the value of NatWest Group. The long-term damage to the bank and banking sector likely hasn’t been fully realised yet.
It’s about trust and privacy, isn’t it?