‘Sick’ £2.4m payout to NatWest boss could be blocked after debanking scandal
It's reported ministers could be on the brink of stepping in to block a £2.4million payout to former NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose who stepped down after the Nigel Farage de-banking furore.
Ministers could be on the brink of blocking a payout reportedly worth £2.4million to former NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose who stepped down over the Nigel Farage de-banking saga.
GB News reports The Treasury has made clear it will make a decision over the proposed package subject to an independent report on the financial furore.
NatWest, which is 38.6 percent owned by the British taxpayer, has come under intense scrutiny after Nigel Farage claimed his account was closed with Coutts over his political views.
Coutts is owned by NatWest and it emerged Dame Rose admitted to briefing journalists about Mr Farage's private financial arrangements
She is currently working out her 12-month notice period at the group. NatWest is keeping her planned pay under review as investigations into the scandal continue.
Reacting to the news of a payout Mr Farage said: "When I heard the news I thought perhaps it was a sick joke".
A senior source told GB News that ministers could move to block the pay-out "if an investigation shows that the board did not consider using clawback or “malus” provisions if wrongdoing is found".
According to the channel a "malus" means the loss or return of performance related pay originally paid to an employee as a result of "the discovery of a defect in the performance".
Reacting further to the idea of Dame Rose receiving a multi-million pound settlement, Mr Farage added: "Surely you cannot breach client confidentiality, you cannot break virtually every important rule in the FCA codebook and you can't then lie about it after you've briefed the BBC, and still receive a £2.43 million payout.
"And yet that's exactly what's happened to Alison Rose. The so-called inquiry into what she did has been kicked into the long grass and Sir Howard Davies, chairman of the NatWest Group, seems happy about that.
"This is the corrupt British establishment looking after its own. It's the corrupt British establishment at its very, very worst.
"Any employee of NatWest that had done what she'd done would have been out the door, fired and would have not even received their month's money. The whole thing is a sick joke."
The Taxpayers' Alliance think tank added: "NatWest bosses would do well to remember that taxpayers own a sizable chunk of the bank".
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