Coutts’ chief executive has been forced to resign and the hastily installed new boss has said that Nigel Farage’s banking privileges will be reinstated. To make his revenge sweeter still, Farage wants compensation and a grovelling apology, and he may well get them.
But in all the ricochets of blame we’ve seen, no one is considering the possibility that Coutts’ original attempt to cut ties with Farage may have been the right one. Yes, an apology is called for, but perhaps the apology should have been this: “Banks used to fancy themselves above any moral scruples. Once upon a time, financial institutions provided their services to slavers, dictators, gangsters, sex predators and fraudsters, as long as they had enough money. To our shame, Coutts once served as bankers for Augusto Pinochet. We are deeply sorry for this. We recognise that in 2023, banks can no longer avoid social responsibility, and it is for this reason that we have decided to withhold our services from Mr Farage.”
Michel Faber
Folkestone, Kent