The chief executive of NatWest, one of Britain's biggest banks, left her job on Wednesday after discussing personal details of a client -- the populist politician Nigel Farage -- with a journalist.
The bank said Alison Rose was leaving “by mutual consent.” The surprise early morning statement came just hours after NatWest had expressed full confidence in the CEO, who was the first woman to head one of Britain’s four big banks.
Farage, a right-wing talk show presenter and former leader of the pro-Brexit U.K. Independence Party, said his account with the private bank Coutts, owned by NatWest Group, had been shut down unfairly. Farage, a skilled seeker of attention and generator of outrage, accused the bank of stomping on his freedom of speech, and some members of the Conservative government echoed his concerns.
On Tuesday evening, Rose apologized to Farage and acknowledged that she was the anonymous source of the inaccurate BBC report that claimed the decision to close Farage’s account was purely commercial. She said speaking to a reporter had been “a serious error of judgment.” Andrew Griffith, the banking minister, is due to meet Britain’s largest banks on Wednesday morning to address concerns related to customers’ “lawful freedom of expression.”
Farage welcomed Rose’s departure but said he wanted to see “a fundamental change of the banking laws” and the ouster of more members of the NatWest board.
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