Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has lodged a formal complaint with the Information Commissioner after accusing the NatWest Group of passing personal data about his “financial affairs” to the BBC.
This comes after a BBC news report claimed he lost his account at Coutts because he had insufficient funds and fell below the required £1million threshold.
But after making a data subject access request to Coutts to find out why his account was being closed, he received a 40-page document which revealed that the bank thought his political views did “not align with our values”.
According to the report, the bank’s dossier cited his retweet of a Ricky Gervais joke about trans women and his friendship with tennis player Novak Djokovic – who was against the Covid vaccinatio – to flag concerns about Mr Farage’s political views.
Chief executive of Natwest Dame Alison Rose – which owns Coutts – apologised earlier this week over the mishandling of his account closure.
READ MORE: BBC fails to apologise over false reason Nigel Farage’s Coutts account closed
Mr Farage has written to BBC director-general Tim Davie to complain about its reporting.
The state broadcaster said: “We acknowledge that the information we reported – that Coutts’ decision on Nigel Farage’s account did not involve considerations about his political views – turned out not to be accurate.”
“We have amended this article’s headline and copy to make clear that the details about the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account came from a source.”
The ICO has the power to fine Coutts a maximum of £17.5million, or 4 percent of the total annual worldwide turnover in the preceding financial year, the Mail reports.
The letter from Mr Farage’s lawyers to the ICO states: “The content of the BBC report gives rise to the inescapable conclusion that the bank was providing confidential information comprising Mr Farage’s personal data about his financial affairs to the Press, which, on the face of it would constitute a serious data breach by the bank.”
It adds: “This material showed that the information that was apparently given to the BBC by Coutts or someone within the Natwest Group was at best incomplete and at worst deliberately misleading.
“The information given to the BBC was also not fully accurate in relation to the offer of alternative banking facilities at Natwest; Mr Farage was only offered an alternative current account, and was not offered an alternative business account. Mr Farage’s sense of profound injustice, and concern for wide societal implications of the bank’s conduct, led him to feel he had to correct the position by making public the full DSAR response, even though it included information that was highly prejudicial about him.”
The letter concludes: “Given the gravity of this situation however, Mr Farage asks the ICO to intervene to take action to require Coutts and Natwest Group to explain promptly exactly how it has handled his personal data.”
