NatWest tipped to scrap Alison Rose £10m payout amid Nigel Farage debanking row

NatWest tipped to scrap Alison Rose £10m payout amid Nigel Farage debanking row

PA
Jack Walters

By Jack Walters


Published: 09/11/2023

- 19:54

Updated: 09/11/2023

- 21:49

Dame Alison Rose left the bank by mutual consent after inaccurately briefing a BBC journalist about Nigel Farage being 'debanked'

NatWest has been tipped to scrap part of Dame Alison Rose's £10million payout following the Nigel Farage banking scandal.

Rose is expected to receive her contractual salary entitlement for the remainder of her 12-month notice period.



However, NatWest's board is expected to cut most of the discretionary elements of her pay package.

An insider source told Sky News that the decision was expected to be announced to the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

WATCH NOW: Nigel Farage's monologue on NatWest's debanking scandal

The precise numbers remain unclear but come after Rose left the bank due to the fallout of Farage's Coutts debacle.

The NatWest board's decision means that Rose will likely forfeit millions of pounds in unvested share awards.

However, the 54-year-old is expected to receive a seven-figure sum in the form of her basic salary and fixed share allowance.

NatWest, which is almost 40 per cent owned by British taxpayers, was due to pay Rose £1.16million, with a further sum of the same amount in deferred share awards.

Responding to the report, Farage said: "I would like to think that what has happened to Alison Rose ends the woke culture in banking."

An image of a NatWest branchAn image of a NatWest branchPA

Rose's legal fees are also expected to be paid by the bank.

Following her departure in July, the former head of commercial business Paul Thwaite was appointed as interim chief executive.

NatWest last month apologised to Farage by conceding it had been guilty of "serious failings" in the way it had treated him.

The decision to "debank" the former Brexit Party leader Farage sparked outrage in Westminster and forced the City watchdog into an urgent review of the practice across Britain's banking sector.

Nigel FarageNigel FaragePA

However, the Information Commissioner’s Office appeared to backtrack on its findings from the Farage scandal earlier this week by apologising to Rose.

The watchdog said: "We apologise to Ms Rose for suggesting that we had made a finding that she breached the UK GDPR in respect of Mr Farage when we had not investigated her.

"Our investigation did not find that Ms Rose breached data protection law and we regret that our statement gave the impression that she did."

It added: "Our comments gave the impression that we had investigated the actions of Alison Rose, the former CEO of NatWest Group. This was incorrect.

"We accept that it would have been appropriate in the specific circumstances for us to have given Ms Rose an opportunity to comment on any findings in relation to her role and regret not doing so."

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