NatWest had admitted to “a number of serious failings” in its treatment of Nigel Farage during the de-banking saga earlier this year.
Following the publication of key findings from the first phase of the Travers Smith independent review, NatWest Group chairman, Sir Howard Davies, said: “This report sets out a number of serious failings in the treatment of Mr Farage.
“Although Travers Smith confirmed the lawful basis for the exit decision, the findings set out clear shortcomings in how it was reached as well as failures in how we communicated with him and in relation to client confidentiality.”
The report found the way the exit decision was communicated to Farage was not in accordance with the bank's policies and processes.
Davies added: “We apologise once again to Mr Farage for how he has been treated. His experience fell short of the standards that any customer should expect.”
“Our job now is to make sure that does not happen again.”
As a result, the group has accepted and said it will implement all of the recommendations made by Travers Smith.
FCA review
In a statement, the Financial Conduct Authority said the review identified regulatory breaches and a number of areas for improvement.
One of these areas was the firms’ processes, systems and controls around how they consider potential closure of accounts and handle complaints for their customers.
The other area was the allocation of responsibilities and effectiveness of the firms’ governance mechanisms.
The FCA stated that, as was previously set out in July, this review of NatWest's report was a part of its "intensifying supervisory work" in relation to NatWest Group and Coutts.
The authority has now confirmed to both firms that it is reviewing how the firms’ governance, systems and controls are working to identify and address any significant shortcomings.
This supervisory work will include use of the authority's statutory information gathering powers, interviews with relevant bank staff and reviews of appropriate policies or procedures.
This will also include how these issues may impact on the wider fair treatment of customers.
The FCA also stated that any complaints about handling of individual cases remain a matter for the Financial Ombudsman Service.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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