The Positive Brexit Thread

[Well b back 3,281]

It’s quite amusing that a number of those that say you can’t take opinions into account, defend people that won’t let people into their hotels as they have beliefs that mean they don’t like certain individuals.

[Herman 9,835]

Culture Wars 1  Big Business 0.

Truly pathetic state of affairs. 

[benchwarmer 625]

On 24/07/2023 at 20:53, Hook's-Walk-Canary said:

As per your enjoyment was short-lived:

I hope he goes ahead and sues both Coutts and the NatWest 👍

Chortle, guffaw...

He won't.

These are the facts.  Farage was deemed a "politically exposed person" under the financial conduct regulations which govern all banks.  In simple terms it relates to the risk of money laundering.  Farage's level of risk was apparently downgraded in 2022 but raised again in 2023 prior to the closure of his account.  We don't know why, but the BBC's report of "insufficient funds" doesn't tell the whole story.

Properly used, PEP status should have nothing to do with a client's political views as such, but to the risk of receiving funds from suspect sources.  We don't know whether it was properly used in this case; Farage would obviously say that it wasn't.

Clearly this information should never have been disclosed, let alone by the CEO of NatWest, and she had to go.  But Farage may live to regret that he didn't keep his mouth shut too.  There are no winners here.

 

A quick PS about money laundering regulations.  I know from experience that they're extremely strict and work on the principle of "guilty until proved innocent".  Not long ago I wanted to use some surplus cash from downsizing to buy an unmortgageable wreck and do it up.  I'd moved the money several times to take advantage of higher interest rates and no longer had all the paperwork.  The hoops I had to jump through were unbelievable.

Edited July 26, 2023 by benchwarmer

[dylanisabaddog 5,006]

On 24/07/2023 at 20:53, Hook's-Walk-Canary said:

As per your enjoyment was short-lived:

I hope he goes ahead and sues both Coutts and the NatWest 👍

Chortle, guffaw...

Farage won't sue anyone. To do so he would have to give evidence under oath in court. I very much doubt he would want that. 

[ricardo 7,402]

Dame Alison Rose resigns.

No choice really when the truth came out.

Edited July 26, 2023 by ricardo

[dylanisabaddog 5,006]

2 minutes ago, ricardo said:

Dame Alison Rose resigns.

No choice really when the truth came out.

She didn't resign because of "the truth". She resigned because she abused Farage's confidentiality. 

[ricardo 7,402]

19 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

She didn't resign because of "the truth". She resigned because she abused Farage's confidentiality. 

We now know why Farage's account was closed and it wasn't for financial reasons. She has owned up to this in her letter of apology to Farage. The plain fact is that she fibbed to the BBC reporter even after they checked back to confirm their story. She was left with no option after that.

[dylanisabaddog 5,006]

1 hour ago, ricardo said:

We now know why Farage's account was closed and it wasn't for financial reasons. She has owned up to this in her letter of apology to Farage. The plain fact is that she fibbed to the BBC reporter even after they checked back to confirm their story. She was left with no option after that.

Report extract taken from Sky news website 

 

An update from 10 March this year states: "The relationship has been below commercial criteria for some time and upon review of Nigel's past public profile and connections, the perceived risks for the future weighed against the benefit of retention the decision was taken to exit upon repayment of an existing mortgage."

The main risks were:

Reputational - as Mr Farage is "high profile" and "actively courts controversy";

Financial crime - due to "alleged Russia connections";

Edited July 26, 2023 by dylanisabaddog

[Well b back 3,281]

On 24/07/2023 at 20:53, Hook's-Walk-Canary said:

As per your enjoyment was short-lived:

I hope he goes ahead and sues both Coutts and the NatWest 👍

Chortle, guffaw...

Would love to see that, then people can judge for themselves. You have to tell the truth under oath, not sure Farage understands what that means.

[Herman 9,835]

11 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Report extract taken from Sky news website 

 

An update from 10 March this year states: "The relationship has been below commercial criteria for some time and upon review of Nigel's past public profile and connections, the perceived risks for the future weighed against the benefit of retention the decision was taken to exit upon repayment of an existing mortgage."

The main risks were:

Reputational - as Mr Farage is "high profile" and "actively courts controversy";

Financial crime - due to "alleged Russia connections";

Sorry Ricardo, but these are the facts. 

Farage has played it well and his target was poorly prepared for his level culture warrior. A lot of companies and people are going to have to get themselves ready for the oncoming right wing onslaught. 

[Canary Wundaboy 1,360]

It was plain as day that she was going to have to go, regardless of Farage you simply cannot discuss an individual's financial arrangements with the press without being in flagrant breach of GDPR.

[ricardo 7,402]

17 minutes ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Report extract taken from Sky news website 

 

An update from 10 March this year states: "The relationship has been below commercial criteria for some time and upon review of Nigel's past public profile and connections, the perceived risks for the future weighed against the benefit of retention the decision was taken to exit upon repayment of an existing mortgage."

The main risks were:

Reputational - as Mr Farage is "high profile" and "actively courts controversy";

Financial crime - due to "alleged Russia connections";

You obviously didn't  read the apologies where they had to backtrack on the Russian allegations. 

Coutts and Nat West have come out of this rather badly.

[ricardo 7,402]

7 minutes ago, Herman said:

Sorry Ricardo, but these are the facts. 

Farage has played it well and his target was poorly prepared for his level culture warrior. A lot of companies and people are going to have to get themselves ready for the oncoming right wing onslaught. 

The level of naivety from Nat West is shocking. That's what you get from employing a CEO with a background in the Water industry😉

[dylanisabaddog 5,006]

1 hour ago, ricardo said:

You obviously didn't  read the apologies where they had to backtrack on the Russian allegations. 

Coutts and Nat West have come out of this rather badly.

Nat West obviously come out of this very badly. As you have said in another post, they have had to backtrack on Russian allegations but they really didn't need to mention it. He was below the HNW limit and that was enough. 

Having said that, Farage is showing no signs of suing them. That is because he doesn't want to answer some very difficult questions under oath.

The problem with Coutts is not the decision they made but the naive and incompetent way they reached that decision. That decision is entirely down to a woman who was out of her depth. 

Coutts had more than one opportunity to get rid of Farage. He broke electoral rules and was fined by the Electoral Commission and referred to the Police. He then went to work for Russian State Television who wholeheartedly support an illegal invasion of Ukraine. The only real question to ask is why Coutts didn't get rid of him earlier. It should be noted that no other UK financial institution wants anything to do with him which is hardly surprising. 

Interviewed on Radio 4 this morning Farage claimed that our banks are monitoring the social media of every UK citizen. What absolute nonsense! 

[Barbe bleu 832]

Farage was an increasingly marginalised ans ignored figure that had been reduced to recording personal messages for £50 a go. 

But because @angrybobFBPE (spider emoji) (EU flag) couldn't let it go and thought they were a better political operator than nigel farage he is now headline news and laughing at us all in that smug way of his 

@angrybobFBPE is probably writing a tweet about global warming that gives thousands of pounds of free advertising to a niche news station that is listed somewhere between mauritania news 24 and QVC3 +1 whilst undermining a 30 year scientific consensus.

Don't complain about culture wars if you are going to fight them.

 

[Yellow Fever 3,839]

Can't help but feel this woman is typical of many who rise to the top of large organizations or indeed the Tory party.

Big hand little map types (aka WW1 general). Never know or understand the gritty detail. In this case compliance but it's really not understanding the mechanics of red tape in detail and often creating more in ignorance (c.f. Johnson and Brexit or trade deals or indeed Farage himself). Simple is as simple does.

[Herman 9,835]

Did they apologise about his Russian connections. Russia was mentioned 144 times in the report?

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

3 hours ago, ricardo said:

You obviously didn't  read the apologies where they had to backtrack on the Russian allegations. 

Coutts and Nat West have come out of this rather badly.

I would wager it will make little or no difference to Coutts or Nat West. Banks are immune to anything and everything.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

1 hour ago, Barbe bleu said:

Farage was an increasingly marginalised ans ignored figure that had been reduced to recording personal messages for £50 a go. 

But because @angrybobFBPE (spider emoji) (EU flag) couldn't let it go and thought they were a better political operator than nigel farage he is now headline news and laughing at us all in that smug way of his 

@angrybobFBPE is probably writing a tweet about global warming that gives thousands of pounds of free advertising to a niche news station that is listed somewhere between mauritania news 24 and QVC3 +1 whilst undermining a 30 year scientific consensus.

Don't complain about culture wars if you are going to fight them.

 

This whole affair has to be one of the non stories of the year tha thas escalated into DefCon 4

[Hook's-Walk-Canary 213]

6 hours ago, dylanisabaddog said:

Farage won't sue anyone. 

Regardless of what Farage does or does not do, he has raised the issue and profile of thousands of people who have found themselves in a similar position. Because of your hatred for the man you are not capable of acknowledging this.

[Canary Wundaboy 1,360]

As my wife said earlier, she has no love for Farage but banks suddenly whipping away your accounts/money is right up there with being sent to jail in terms of the impact it can have on your life, but with zero process, right to defence or accountability for the banks. He's an odious little man but he's (inadvertently) shone a bright light on what appears to be a very shoddy industry practice. 

My only concern is now the banks will double their efforts to hide behind the money laundering regs when they do want to pull the carpet out from underneath people.

[Herman 9,835]

I think we're all wise enough to realise that farage isn't doing this because it's good for the UK. He's up to something, some grift or side hustle. Keep your eyes on some banking regs that him and his cronies will try to get watered down.

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

2 hours ago, Hook's-Walk-Canary said:

Regardless of what Farage does or does not do, he has raised the issue and profile of thousands of people who have found themselves in a similar position. Because of your hatred for the man you are not capable of acknowledging this.

Do we really know there are thousands? Or is it just Farage saying it? And in his interview with Sky, he says that 10 other banks would not give him an account. He wouldn't say which ones. 

When you are blackballed by the banks, then I suspect there is something more than he is telling us.  He said the Nat Wesat board should all resign because some of them lied and the rest backed them.

So Farage is getting upset about telling lies? Well Nigel, in my opinion you have fcuked the future for my children, grandchildren and probably great grandchildren by lying through your aristotle about Brexit. I would quite happily let every bank take all your money off you and give it to my offspring as an apology.

How are the birthday greeting going by the way? Strippogram next for all the Joy Divisions in Herts and Bucks and not forgetting Marjorie from Godalming.

[Well b back 3,281]

2 hours ago, Hook's-Walk-Canary said:

Regardless of what Farage does or does not do, he has raised the issue and profile of thousands of people who have found themselves in a similar position. Because of your hatred for the man you are not capable of acknowledging this.

The man who tried to get RNLI volunteers beaten up because they rescued migrants. 

[ricardo 7,402]

Nobody will care about Farage once the US Congress reveals that  UFO's are real.

[Herman 9,835]

All wrapped up expertly.

 

[A Load of Squit 5,222]

It's very magnanimous of the bank to re-instate all of Farage's accounts but making changing the name to ****ts a stipulation seems a bit desperate.

 

  

[How I Wrote Elastic Man 1,195]

3 hours ago, Hook's-Walk-Canary said:

Regardless of what Farage does or does not do, he has raised the issue and profile of thousands of people who have found themselves in a similar position. Because of your hatred for the man you are not capable of acknowledging this.

Jesus Christ, Jools. Farage was the cause of it for many people!

[keelansgrandad 6,679]

1 hour ago, ricardo said:

Nobody will care about Farage once the US Congress reveals that  UFO's are real.

My Bank Manager might as well be light years away.

[ricardo 7,402]

18 minutes ago, keelansgrandad said:

My Bank Manager might as well be light years away.

But can he still check your your social media accounts?