Farage threatens to scupper Natwest share sale over debanking row
‘I will issue my court papers which will make a public sale of shares very, very difficult indeed’
NIGEL FARAGE has warned the incoming chief executive of Natwest that he will try to scupper the sale of taxpayerowned shares in the bank unless there is a culture change in the wake of the debanking scandal.
The president of Reform UK says he will issue court proceedings against the bank within days if it does not settle an ongoing compensation claim with him and promise to stop closing the accounts of customers whose views it does not agree with.
Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, wants to sell off the remaining 38.6 per cent of Natwest shares still owned by the taxpayer following a government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, which would help put the Treasury in a healthier financial position ahead of the general election.
But Mr Farage said the bank was “not fit for a public sale of shares” until it had put its house in order, and said it would be “very, very difficult indeed” for a share sale to go ahead if the bank was in the middle of a messy and highly public legal battle with him.
The bank is expected to name a new permanent chief executive today to replace Dame Alison Rose, who resigned last year following a Telegraph investigation into the closure of Mr Farage’s accounts by Natwest subsidiary Coutts. Paul Thwaite, the interim chief executive, is tipped to be given the role on a permanent basis.
Mr Hunt is rumoured to be looking at a share sale as early as June, and hopes it will generate the same sort of buzz among the public as the privatisations of the 1980s, when British Gas shares were sold to first-time investors with the hugely successful “Tell Sid” advertising campaign.
Mr Farage is demanding that NatWest pay his legal fees and compensation after Coutts closed his accounts. He obtained internal documents from the bank that showed his accounts were closed after the bank decided his views were “not compatible” with those of Coutts. It quickly became clear that many other customers had also had accounts closed or been refused banking services because of their personal or political views.
Mr Farage said: “There has been no change of culture at the bank whatsoever. They are paying out £350million in bonuses to the same people who abused me. I am left feeling that my efforts with this organisation have been in vain.
“I don’t think this organisation is fit for a public sale of shares until they have put to bed the issue with me, shown that there is going to be a change of culture within the organisation and proved that there is going to be a new management style.
“I have had court papers ready for some time and unless they want to have a sensible conversation, I will issue them, which will make a public sale of shares very, very difficult indeed.
“The court papers call for a much fuller, franker public apology and a commitment that this will not happen again.” Writing for The Telegraph he said: “How on Earth is an unreformed bank ready for a public offering of shares to the huge number of people who its executives hold in contempt?”
Natwest shares have reduced in value by more than half since they were bought by the government in 2008, and the Chancellor has said a sell-off would be “subject to supportive market conditions and achieving value for money”.
While a court case would not technically stop the share sale going ahead, Mr Farage believes that it would be politically difficult for it to go ahead and that his legal battle would put people off buying the shares.
Natwest declined to comment.
TODAY is supposed to mark a new dawn for Natwest, with full-year financial profit figures allied to the announcement of a new permanent CEO, Paul Thwaite.
These would be important milestones for any large business, but for Natwest they take on a greater significance in light of moves to sell the Government’s remaining 38 per cent shareholding in the bank. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, has said this will be a “Tell Sid” moment.
For those that don’t remember, Tell Sid was the 1980s ad campaign promoting the privatisation of British Gas. “Tell Sid” was a nod to people telling their friends and neighbours they should become part of the democratic shareholding society.
But the sale of Natwest in 2024 is very different. Last summer the huge public row caused by Natwest debanking me led to the resignations of the group’s CEO Alison Rose and Peter Favel, the CEO of its sister bank Coutts. There was a 35 per cent drop in the Natwest share price from the moment I went public on this issue. Indeed, the share price fell as low as £1.80 in October. It’s important to remember that when the Government bailed out Natwest in 2008 it paid 502 pence per share.
If Paul Thwaite is announced as permanent CEO, it will be nothing more than the old guard staying in place. And while Coutts may have chosen a new CEO in Emma Crystal, who worked at UBS, she would appear from the job description on her CV to be a fully signed-up member of the woke corporate banking world.
What reforms have Natwest put in place as a result of my debanking? What assurances have been given such that others, who perhaps do not have a voice as loud as mine, could not have this done to them in the future?
Despite the drop in the share price, Natwest will continue to announce large profits. This is no surprise given the discrepancy between the rates at which they borrow and lend money. What I find really outrageous is that bonuses of £350 million will be paid to the very same people who abused me.
My data subject access requests showed the utter contempt that many at Natwest, even in senior positions, held for me. I was called a “grifter”. Someone claimed I was a Russian spy. Some said they would like to
see me pushed out of a moving car. It was vile. The strange thing was that the views I hold on net zero, EU membership and how we should control our borders are also held by a majority of this country. How is an unreformed bank ready for a public offering of shares to the people who its executives hold in contempt?
This matter took up a vast amount of my time. I am now, with my legal team, ready to lodge court papers which would lead to a case that could possibly derail the public offering. If that were to happen, the Tell Sid moment would have to be paused.
The Natwest Group internal Travers Smith report into the scandal was a whitewash and we are confident that this will be proven. If the bank can’t be straight with its customers and the FCA, how can we trust it to be straightforward when it is selling billions of pounds worth of shares?
If I go back into battle against this bank, it must honour its obligations towards me. It needs to prove it has learned the lessons of the debanking scandal. It needs to show the British public it is a bank and not a social campaigning organisation.
One thing I will concede is that Rick Haythornthwaite will be a far more suitable chairman than his predecessor Sir Howard Davis. Let us hope after his long, successful career, he has the wisdom to do the right thing. If he does not, I cannot see how Hunt could offer these shares to the British public.