Banks could lose their licence if they discriminate against customers over political views

Banks face losing their licence if they discriminate against customers based on political beliefs under plans being drawn up by the Government, The Telegraph can reveal.

Ministers have ordered officials to start drafting legislation to give banks new free speech duties after it emerged that Coutts bank had closed Nigel Farage’s accounts because his views did not “align” with its “values”.

Andrew Griffith, economic secretary to the Treasury, has asked civil servants to explore adding free speech protections to banking licences, according to Whitehall sources.

The move would mean any bank that discriminates against a customer because of their political beliefs could have their banking licence revoked.

Separately, payment service providers will be told as soon as Thursday that they must not discriminate against customers on the basis of belief, The Telegraph understands.

The Treasury is preparing to enforce it by strengthening the Financial Conduct Authority’s “Principles for Business”. 

Principle Six, which states that “a firm must pay due regard to the interests of its customers and treat them fairly”, will be updated to refer to political beliefs, insiders said.

It will also say that banks must give three months’ notice of services being terminated and that due notice must be given to enable appeals.

The changes are expected to be announced as early as Thursday as part of the Treasury’s response to its payment services regulations review.

It comes after Rishi Sunak vowed to “crack down” on banks removing customers for non-commercial reasons on Wednesday amid a growing backlash against Coutts and its parent company NatWest.

David Davis, Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden, branded Coutts’ decision to de-bank Mr Farage as “a thinly veiled political discrimination, a vindictive irresponsible and undemocratic action”.

He told the Prime Minister in the House of Commons that the banking licence of NatWest should be in jeopardy over its handling of the scandal. 

He asked Mr Sunak to order banks to disclose to the Treasury all of the accounts they have shut down for non-commercial reasons.

In response, Mr Sunak said: “In the short term, having consulted on the payment service regulations, we do intend to crack down on this practice by tightening the rules around account closures.”

The Government began working on reforms for payment service providers earlier this year, after The Telegraph revealed that PayPal, the US payments company, had been accused of shutting down accounts for political motives.

PayPal temporarily shut down the accounts of UsForThem, the parents’ group that fought to keep schools open during the pandemic, as well as the Free Speech Union and its founder Toby Young without any clear explanation.

It later reinstated the accounts following a backlash from MPs.

The company said it was a “strong supporter of freedom of expression and open dialogue”.

Other groups that had their accounts shut down by PayPal last year included Left Lockdown Sceptics, which describes itself as a “socialist collective” opposed to government lockdown measures.

The Telegraph revealed on Tuesday the reasons Coutts gave for “exiting” Mr Farage in a 40-page internal dossier.

The document made clear that Mr Farage was a viable commercial customer but devoted dozens of pages to criticising his views on Brexit, immigration, Donald Trump, LGBT issues and much more besides. It said Mr Farage’s views were at odds with the bank’s “values” and “purpose”.

In a post on social media on Wednesday, Mr Griffith said: 

Molly Kingsley, co-founder of UsForThe, said: “We welcome this intervention from the Government. The politicisation of the corporate arena is a dangerous trend which should have been firmly resisted last year when the ‘debanking’ of UsForThem and the Free Speech Union first came to light.”

Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union, said: “The Free Speech Union has been lobbying the Government to stamp out this sinister new form of cancel culture for nearly a year and I’m delighted it has decided to do something about it. There’s no place for this kind of censorship in a modern democracy.”

A Coutts spokesman said: “Our ability to respond is restricted by our obligations of client confidentiality.

“Decisions to close accounts are not taken lightly and take into account a number of factors including commercial viability, reputational considerations, and legal and regulatory requirements. 

“As the client has previously confirmed, alternative banking arrangements have been offered within the wider group.”