Nigel Farage said the number of people closing their accounts due to «political opinions», as in his case, seems «not particularly big.» Credit: Gareth Fuller/PA
Banks are closing accounts for small businesses that refuse cashless payments, says Nigel Farage as he launches a new campaign to help victims of debanking.
The first Ukip Leader created the website AccountClosed.org, whose goal is to help people who have had their financial services unfairly taken away.
“Everything tells me that this is a major national scandal that needs to be uncovered and acted upon,” he told The Telegraph.
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After having his own Coutts accounts closed as his political views were deemed not to be in line with the bank's values, Mr Farage last week welcomed the resignations of Dame Alison Rose, chief executive of NatWest, which owns Coutts, and Peter Flavel, chief executive of director of Coutts.
He wants to significantly expand his campaign with AccountClosed.org, saying he decided to launch the website because «we don't quite understand the scope of the problem at the moment.»
He said he was «overwhelmed» by members of the public sending him their own cases since it was revealed his account was closed.
«I start work at four in the morning, looking at all of this,” he added. «I'm starting to get the impression that it's a lot more than any of us could have imagined.»
The website will attempt to detail the various reasons customers opt out, and people will be asked to share their own experience together with involved banks to help identify the «worst offenders».
«We don't want cash»
From what he has heard to date, Mr. Farage's «biggest concern» is small and medium-sized businesses, including banks that are allegedly threatening to close the accounts of cash-dependent businesses.
“Obviously a few things have come up,” he says. “First, a concerted effort to crowd out cash.
“You own a fish store? Well, buy a credit card machine — we don't need cash. Are you a window cleaner? Sorry, we don't need cash. A lot of it.
“I have dozens of accounts of people who tell me their bank says they put in too much cash, where does the cash come from, do they have receipts to get the cash back? He said account closures on this basis “had happened to a lot of people.”
He added that investors in cryptocurrencies have also been affected. “Today I had a 19 year old guy who told me he was investing £50 a month in cryptocurrencies. And the bank said, «No, sorry, we don't need your cases.» So they even restrict how people spend money, which is very shocking to me.”
Emigrants and those who receive money from abroad also faced problems.
Mr Farage said the numbers closing their accounts due to «political opinions», as in his case, seemed «not particularly huge», but added: «The danger is that it is getting much higher as now with the help AI banks can search social media accounts of all their customers. It's very ominous and very disturbing.»
«Help me help you»
He believes the full extent of the debanking operations has just become known because most of the victims «don't tell anyone.» “They are embarrassed, they are humiliated. And they fear that if they say anything at all, it will hurt their credit score in the future. And there is strong evidence that this is true.”
He believes that the debanking phenomenon was caused by «total overkill» in the application of anti-money laundering and «PEP» directives, as well as the creeping politicization of banks.
Mr Farage said the latter problem is characteristic for the entire corporate culture, stating: «It has spread through the public and private sectors at an incredible rate, especially accelerated by the Black Lives Matter movement.»
But at least for the moment he focused on banking, explaining: «It is in banking that it has not only reached its apogee, but has also reached an industry as important as water and electricity.»
« There is a culture that has gone through all of banking being scared, scared of heavy fines, as eager to demonstrate its environmental credentials and its inclusiveness as it is to keep banking.”
AccountClosed.org will function as a reference site, providing a template for users to submit Subject Access Requests (SARs) for information about why their own accounts were closed, as Mr. Farage had an explosive effect with Coutts. He admitted that «until a couple of months ago I didn't know what SAR was.»
Coutts' dossier on Nigel Farage, in full
In addition to documenting cases and identifying trends, he said he intended to use the website to seek support for his campaign, and his appeal to the people was: «Help me help you.»
He continued, “We're going to appeal to people who are lawyers, we're going to appeal to people who are administrators.
“If we can collect cases…be interesting. If we could collectively represent a large number of people, then I think we could very well form a really powerful lobbying group to go to parliament and say: “Look, we need not only cultural changes in banks … we need to rethink this legislation.
“I mean, for us to be a functioning capitalist economy that encourages entrepreneurship, we need to have a banking system that works with us, not against us.” Farage has a lot of experience leading insurgent political forces, but he insisted the force would be non-partisan.
On Friday, he tweeted that he supported Remain campaigner Gina Miller, who also claims to have been -banks. “There is absolutely no politics in this,” he said.
Mr Farage said the website is currently run by «a couple of financial guys and a couple of lawyers who did all the work,» adding, «It's their baby and they want me to run it, which is exactly what I do.» .”
He's already got two large scalps and doesn't seem to be done yet. Sir Howard Davies' Friday announcement that he would not step down as chairman of NatWest was «a very bad decision,» he said.
In the middle of our Friday afternoon phone call, he chimes in: » Oh, Smith, they've got him, Smith's gone!»
Did another bank manager get kicked out? No, it was just Mr. Farage watching over England bowling in front of Australian batsman Steve Smith.
At this point, his banking campaign takes precedence over Ashes. «It's about the right to free speech,» he said. «About a country where people are treated fairly in an age where you frankly can't work on a personal level, let alone a business, without a bank account.»
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