A few years ago, a report claimed there were more CEOs named ‘John’ running large companies than there were female CEOs in total.
That statistic was beaten in 2018. However, that number was also impacted by the declining preference of ‘John’ as a male name in the wider population.
In 2019, Alison Rose became one of the many CEOs not named John (or James, or David, or with a ‘Sir’ prefix) when she took the top job at NatWest. NatWest grew from the ashes of the beleaguered Royal Bank of Scotland, which at the height of the aftermath of the 2008 banking crisis was initially 80% owned by the UK government (as of 2023, the UK government still holds a 39% share in the bank).
NatWest also owns Coutts, a private bank for the very wealthy, which cites King Charles III as a customer, and is the eighth oldest bank in the world.
Until recently, Coutts also counted former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader and pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage as a customer. When Mr Farage’s account was downgraded from Coutts, supposedly due to a decline in the necessary funds to maintain that account, he cried foul.
Mr Farage has been a high-profile figure in British politics for many years and his views are not private. In fact, it would be fair to consider him an activist for causes he believes in – something that is legal and encouraged in a free society.
After 10 years with the bank, Mr Farage was informed that he would lose the coveted Coutts service in June of this year due to “commercial reasons”.
A source told the BBC that after 10 years as a customer, Mr Farage no longer held the necessary funds required by the bank. The bank also required that account holders invest at least £1m or save at least £3m.
That source was Dame Alison Rose.
Unfortunately, the reason cited above, while accurate, wasn’t the entire story.
After submitting a subject access request, Mr Farage received a 40-page document detailing evidence that Coutts had accumulated for its Wealth Reputational Risk Committee.
The bank decided there was evidence that there were “significant reputational risks of being associated with him”. The main risks have been reported as reputational because Mr Farage is “high profile” and “actively courts controversy”, as well as financial crime, due to his “alleged Russia connections”.
The loss of a female CEO, when there are so few, is felt more acutely
In addition to not telling the full story, having the CEO of a bank discussing an individual’s bank accounts with a journalist was not an ethical thing to do. As a result, this morning Ms Rose resigned from the bank.
And I feel sick.
The banking community already lost Anne Boden as CEO of Starling Bank earlier this year. The loss of a female CEO, when there are so few, is felt more acutely. That is not to say that I feel female CEOs should be held to looser standards than their male counterparts. If you have acted inappropriately, then there are consequences for those actions.
But so much of this feels so sad and overhyped and unnecessary. I don’t hold the same political views as Mr Farage, but his views aren’t illegal and he has committed no crime. However, I do not believe denial of a private bank account at Coutts would ‘force’ the former UKIP leader to have to leave the country as he claimed on his Twitter account.
Also, while I agree with UK prime minister Rishi Sunak that “No one should be barred from using basic services for their political views,” I would take issue that an account with a bank that requires a £3m deposit is a ‘basic service’.
As the men involved in platforming, promoting and publicising this so-called ‘injustice’, where a political figure is denied access to the King’s bank, continue writing their social posts and column inches, I will mourn Ms Rose.
I don't want to get into the long convoluted story on how a centuries-old private bank for the ultra-wealthy got thrust into so-called ‘woke’ politics. But one thing the risk department at Coutts got 100% right was that there was “significant reputational risks of being associated with [Mr Farage]”.
One member of that very small global club of female CEOs paid the price for that risk today.
