Bovill's Spiers: De-banking decisions are commercial and rarely about making plans for Nigels

Coutts saga

Recent data from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) shows that the number of complaints about a bank account closure has risen in each of the three last financial years, hitting 2,708 complaints for 2022/23.

More significantly, it shows that the number of complaints for this year are already at 60% of that number, and are on track to hit a new high. Complaints about de-banking are seemingly going nowhere. In part, this reflects the fact that de-banking is not new. Many customers have been de-banked or refused service for different reasons over the years, but the practice has been thrown into the spotlight recently given the high profile case of Nigel Farage and Coutts. FCA sets out conditions of review into treatment of politically exposed persons As the FCA investigation into bank acc...