“She didn’t have to go because of politics but because she broke the bankers’ code by revealing confidential client information and set up a ‘diversity’ regime that ended up purging profitable customers because of their lawful views. Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: “I am afraid that Sir Howard’s defence of Dame Alison shows that he simply doesn’t understand the seriousness of NatWest’s failings. Peter Flavel, the chief executive of Coutts, was forced to resign on Thursday, the latest casualty of the scandal. He added: “The NatWest profits are no great surprise… The whole sector is making massive profits whilst treating the public badly.” Mr Farage said on Twitter: “Sir Howard remains as the NatWest Chairperson… The former FSA boss who tried to keep in place a CEO who broke many of the FCA rules. In the wake of his comments, Mr Farage, the former Ukip leader, rounded on Sir Howard, who had previously headed up the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the predecessor to the current watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA, calling on him to quit as well. Sir Howard, in refusing to disclose any possible payout for Dame Alison, said: “We cannot give you any information on Alison’s path at this point, because, as you will have seen, we have commissioned an independent review into the circumstances of the account closures and also into the circumstances surrounding the information that went into the public domain from the bank.” The Telegraph revealed that Dame Alison had sat next to Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, at a charity dinner the day before he published the inaccurate story. It will also examine the circumstances surrounding Dame Alison’s communications with the BBC over a story that wrongly stated he was dropped from the bank because he lacked the funds. NatWest on Friday appointed law firm Travers Smith to investigate why Coutts, the private bank owned byNatWest, shut down Mr Farage’s bank accounts. I can tell you that for the moment, the position is frozen.” “And I don’t see a strong argument from the bank’s perspective in departing from that perfectly normal practice. Sir Howard said: “The normal way in which remuneration decisions are published and discussed with shareholders is in the. He insisted details of Dame Alison’s payoff from the bank had not yet been decided and would not be made public until NatWest’s next annual report is released, which is likely to be in February 2024, potentially kicking the thorny problem into the long grass. “However, the reaction, the political reaction to that, was such that Alison and I then concluded, and the board supported the view, that her position was then untenable.” We have lost a great leader as a result, but I now have to look forward.”Įxplaining how it had transpired that the board expressed its full confidence in her just a few hours before she resigned, Sir Howard said: “We believe that was a rational decision to make at the time. “I clearly regret the way things have turned out. Sir Howard said: “She would be running the bank in the face of very difficult headwinds, and therefore we made a different decision. He also shrugged off calls for his own resignation during a call with journalists to announce half year pre-tax profits of £3.6bn, an increase of £1bn on the same period last year. Sir Howard on Friday blamed “the political reaction” for the board’s decision to replace Dame Alison with a new chief executive. The Government is NatWest’s biggest shareholder with a 39 per cent stake. In his first public appearance since the ‘debanking’ crisis hit, Sir Howard said he had wanted to retain Dame Alison but was forced into a late night u-turn on Tuesday after Downing Street said Rishi Sunak had “significant concerns” about her staying on. Sir Howard Davies blamed political pressure for Dame Alison Rose’s downfall after she was forced to quit over leaking Nigel Farage’s private information to the BBC.īy praising Dame Alison, Sir Howard effectively gave the green light to her being paid a year’s salary in lieu of her notice, worth at least £2.43m. NatWest’s beleaguered chairman declared the bank’s scandal-hit former chief executive a “great leader” undone by politics, paving the way for her to receive a £2.4m pay-off.
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