NatWest boss Alison Rose resigns over Nigel Farage Coutts account row

Dame Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest Group, has stood down after a row over the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account with the private bank Coutts, which NatWest owns.

Rose has resigned from the banking group after Farage complained to the BBC about a report that claimed his accounts with Coutts were closed for commercial reasons. The broadcaster has since apologised and amended its story.

In a statement released on Wednesday morning, the NatWest Group chairman, Sir Howard Davies, said: “The board and Alison Rose have agreed, by mutual consent, that she will step down as CEO of the NatWest Group. It is a sad moment.

“She has dedicated all her working life so far to NatWest and will leave many colleagues who respect and admire her.”

In a statement of her own, Rose thanked her colleagues “for all that they have done”, adding: “I remain immensely proud of the progress the bank has made in supporting people, families and business across the UK, and building the foundations for sustainable growth.”

The announcement of her resignation came a few hours after an emergency board meeting was called on Tuesday night to determine her future.

Earlier, Rose said she made a “serious error of judgment” when she discussed Farage’s relationship with private bank Coutts, owned by NatWest Group, with a BBC journalist.

Her resignation follows an admission that she was the source of a controversial BBC story about Farage’s bank accounts, and for which she issued a grovelling apology.

Commercial considerations – falling below a wealth threshold – were one reason why his accounts could be closed, according to a dossier obtained by Farage using a subject access request.

However, the documents also show these considerations weighed media coverage of his political views while discussing whether to retain him as a client.

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Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence party, had claimed that his bank account was closed on the basis of “blatant corporate prejudice” or because of rules about financial services for being a so-called politically exposed person: someone with political connections that could make them more at risk of receiving corrupt or illegal payments.

He said “I can’t get a bank account” in a video about the account closures at Coutts on 29 June. However, it is unclear when he was offered an alternative of accounts with its sister lender, the high street bank NatWest.

In a letter of apology to Farage sent last week, Rose said the bank would “reiterate” its offer for “alternative banking arrangements” at NatWest, but that it was sorry for “deeply inappropriate comments” about the political campaigner.