Nigel Farage has formally accused the NatWest Group of passing his private and monetary knowledge to the BBC.
The former Brexit Party chief has additionally complained to the Information Commissioner about the best way through which his private particulars have been dealt with by NatWest and its subsidiary, Coutts Bank.
A letter from his attorneys to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) mentions a BBC information report which claimed he was dropping his account at Coutts as a result of he had fallen under a required £1m threshold.
Mr Farage made a Data Subject Access Request [DSAR] to Coutts, to find why his account was being closed.
He revealed he had obtained a 40-page doc exhibiting he met the “criteria for commercial retention” however Coutts – a financial institution additionally utilized by the Royal Family – needed him to depart due to his views, which ranged from his place on LGBTQ+ rights, to his friendship with former US president Donald Trump.
Mr Farage tweeted on Saturday: “The BBC report gives rise to the inescapable conclusion that NatWest Group provided the media with confidential information (and personal data) regarding my financial affairs.
“This would represent a critical knowledge breach and, worse nonetheless, disregard consumer confidentiality by the financial institution.
“My legal team have written to the ICO asking them to investigate and take action.”
On Friday, the BBC up to date its on-line report on the matter, which stated Mr Farage “fell below the financial threshold required to hold an account at Coutts”.
The state broadcaster stated: “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.”
It added: “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 letter from Mr Farage’s attorneys 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.”
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The letter provides that following Mr Farage’s knowledge request, 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”.
It goes on: “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 has a “sense of profound injustice and concern for wide societal implications of the bank’s conduct”, the letter says.
On Thursday, NatWest Group CEO Dame Alison Rose wrote to Mr Farage to apologise.
The apology letter written to Nigel Farage
But the letter from his authorized group to the ICO provides: “Conspicuously, she did not apologise for any information that had been passed to the media citing inadequate finances as the reason for the closure of his accounts.”
Content Source: information.sky.com