Yahoo Finance NatWest hires City law firm as it tools up for Nigel Farage battle
NatWest has drafted in City law firm Addleshaw Goddard to defend a looming legal challenge brought by Nigel Farage over debanking.
David Engel, a reputation and privacy lawyer, has been tasked with fending off the former UKIP and Brexit Party leader in the High Court.
Mr Engel is described on Addleshaw Goddard’s website as being a specialist in “contentious privacy and data protection issues, including data breaches, civil claims and litigation risk under GDPR”.
Proceedings are yet to be lodged against the bank, although Mr Farage is pursuing NatWest over the closure of his accounts at its private bank subsidiary Coutts in June last year.
Mr Farage has appointed Mayfair-based Grosvenor Law for his claim, a firm that is also representing Michelle Mone and Doug Barrowman in their dispute with the Government over allegedly defective PPE.
The move by NatWest to hire Addleshaw Goddard suggests the bank is ready to take on Mr Farage in the courts amid a change in the senior ranks at NatWest.
A new chief executive, Paul Thwaite, and chairman, Rick Haythornthwaite, have been appointed to lead the lender, while Coutts also hired Emma Crystal as chief executive.
After Mr Farage’s Coutts account was shut last year, it emerged that private bankers had labelled him a ‘disingenuous grifter’ in a 36-page dossier compiled on his political views and links.
The debanking incident prompted a major crisis at NatWest, Britain’s second largest bank, which led to the exit of Dame Alison Rose as chief executive and Peter Flavell as boss of Coutts.
Dame Alison had discussed Mr Farage’s case with a BBC journalist, which was seen as a breach of client confidentiality rules.
The bank scrapped £7.6m of potential rewards for Dame Alison although there had been no finding of misconduct.
The scandal has also triggered a major political inquiry, with the Financial Conduct Authority and Treasury Select Committee both reviewing the debanking issue.
A report by Travers Smith found that although NatWest acted within the law in closing Mr Farage’s account there had been “serious failings” over the incident.
Mr Farage later dubbed the report a “whitewash” and vowed to maintain his campaign against the bank.
