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Questions surface about whether Nigel Farage complained when UK banks shut British expats’ accounts
(leftfootforward.org)
this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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UK Politics
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Those accounts were closed because of rule changes post-Brexit. They weren't closed because the people had the "incorrect" views.
His account has not been changed because of his views. It was changed because he ran out of funds due to paying off his mortgage. His account was also not closed; he was offered a different service. These people actually had their accounts closed.
His account was closed because his views "don't align with their values". There was a 40-page document detailing this where they barely mentioned anything to do with his financial situation.
They also only offered him a personal account, which is useless because his income comes from businesses.
This is what highly regulated companies like banks, law firms, insurance companies etc. do for all Politically Exposed Persons. It’s not about corporate values, it’s about risk exposure, especially if there’s the possibility of a conflict of interest.
For example, a bank will want to know if there’s a risk of that person being subject to international sanctions due to people they have met or accepted money from, or a risk that a person’s finances may be investigated for fraud, or if someone is suing that person using using the same lawyers the bank uses. They create a report of anything that may be relevant in future and keep it up to date.
The “doesn’t align with our values” is PR for “this guy’s too risky for the amount of money he has”