Since when do banks have “values”, apart from earning as much money as possible, keeping that of their clients safe and from time to time recommending a reasonable investment? Can you close the account of those whose political and social views you disagree with?
The question is relevant in the United Kingdom, because that is precisely what the private bank Coutts has done with the far-right leader Nigel Farage, alleging that his campaign in favor of Brexit, his friendship with Trump and sympathy for Putin and tennis player Djokovic, his skepticism about global warming and his opposition to “inclusive” policies, such as equal trans rights, constituted a “reputational risk” for the institution.
But Nigel Farage – who currently does not play an active role in politics, but is toying with the idea of ??returning to the forefront to wind up his far-right and anti-European stances – is not the only victim of the politicization of banking in the UK and retaliation against those who do not take “inclusive” positions on issues of race and gender. It has also come to light that the PayPal company closed the account of a group of parents opposed to the closure of schools during the pandemic, and that groups that questioned the radical confinements suffered the same fate.
The conservative government of Rishi Sunak has taken matters into its own hands and is preparing to start legislating today to de-license banks that discriminate against their clients based on their political views and deny them freedom of expression, and to make it clear that the only valid reasons for closing an account are strictly commercial or criminal behaviour, but never those related to “values” or conduct not “inclusive” enough.
Coutts, called “the bank of royalty” because the Windsors have traditionally kept their millions there and is part of the NatWest group, is not the only one who has discriminated against right-wing characters, relying on regulations that allow “PPE” (politically exposed persons) to be treated differently due to the possible impact of their opinions on the reputation of institutions. Various lords and relatives of conservative politicians have come to the fore to denounce that the same thing has happened to them.
Initially, Coutts claimed that the closure of Farage’s account was due to the fact that the level of his investments had fallen below the required minimum. But the politician has obtained the notes from the meeting of the bank’s managers in which the decision was made and a forty-page report on his person that “looks like a document from the old Stasi” (East German security services) and examines all his pronouncements with a magnifying glass. The words “Brexit” and “Trump” appear more than forty times as deadly sins. He says that he was a fascist in his youth, and calls the former US president “xenophobic and racist.”
As a result of the decision of what was his bank, and with which he had a mortgage, ten other institutions have denied him the right to open an account with them. The architect of Brexit considers himself the victim of ideological persecution, and affirms that his censors have investigated him and monitored his interventions on social networks as if they were secret service agents. “If no action is taken,” he said, “Britain is on its way to having a credit system like China’s, in which only those who hold views deemed politically correct can participate as full members of society.”
The bank’s internal report, according to The Daily Telegraph, points out that “there are several factors and behaviors of Mr. Farage that could be argued are not aligned with the values ??that defend the common good and that allow people to be treated with dignity and respect,” and go against the entity’s principles on inclusive treatment of black and Asian people and members of the trans minority.
