Debanking went stateside in November, but has a well-trodden history in Britain after Farage was kicked out of Coutts bank.
LONDON — Watch out, U.S. banks — populist-in-chief Nigel Farage is up for taking a major political fight your way.
The MP, Reform UK leader and internationally renowned trouble-maker is keen to offer tips to U.S. lawmakers, as they reignite a row over whether banks are shuttering accounts belonging to individuals whose political views they don’t agree with.
That debate took Britain by storm in the summer of 2023, after Farage’s own bank account was shut — leading to political furor which forced a major bank chief from her job and new legislation in parliament.
Now it is heading for Capitol Hill. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will Wednesday ask about the experiences of a crypto company, a coffee company whose name contains the word “rifle,” and a lawyer, all of whom say they have been caught up in “debanking.”
Asked by POLITICO whether he’d be willing to provide advice to lawmakers across the pond, as they begin their probe into whether financial institutions have cut off key services, Farage responded: “Of course.”
Debanking went stateside in November, after a leading tech figure, Marc Andreessen, told Joe Rogan’s podcast that he knew 30 tech company founders who had been debanked in the last four years. He claimed right-leaning politicians are labeled by banks as “politically exposed,” and had their bank accounts closed.
Andreessen also claimed that he had not heard of “a single instance of anyone on the left getting debanked.”
Culture wars
U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on the issue just a few days after his inauguration in late January. In a video address to the World Economic Forum, he told the CEOs of Bank of America and JP Morgan: “What you’re doing is wrong.”
“I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank,” he said.
The issue is close to home for Trump, whose son Barron was reportedly debanked, according to Melania Trump’s memoir. Upon allegedly discovering that her bank account would be closed and Barron was unable to open an account at the same bank, Melania wrote that “this decision appeared to be rooted in political discrimination, raising serious concerns about civil rights violations. It is troubling to see financial services withheld based on political affiliation.”
But as Trump 2.0 culture wars are just beginning, the history of debanking is well-trodden in Britain.
In late June, 2023, Farage started a political storm after his account with Coutts, an offshoot of U.K. bank NatWest reserved for the wealthiest clients, was closed.
Internal bank documents revealed his political views were a factor.
The bank cited Farage’s comments on Brexit, as well as his friendships with Trump and controversial tennis star Novak Djokovic, as issues that could affect the bank’s reputation, and also flagged his views on the COVID vaccine and un-evidenced links to Russia. The internal briefing said Farage is considered by many to be a “disingenuous grifter” with “xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views.” The scandal led to the resignation of Alison Rose, NatWest’s chief executive.
The U.K.’s City watchdog later found in two reports no evidence of accounts being shut due to political beliefs or other lawfully expressed views, while an independent review found that Coutts had acted lawfully, but identified shortcomings in how its decision was communicated to Farage.
The U.K. government in Oct. 2023 introduced new rules in response, requiring banks to give customers more notice and reasoning if they shutter accounts.
British lenders may have thought that was the end of the debanking saga. Across the pond, it’s just beginning.
Stefan Boscia contributed to this report.
