Natwest to scrap Alison Rose bonus after Farage debanking scandal, bank to confirm
Natwest will not pay its former chief executive Dame Alison Rose large parts of her bonus, the bank is expected to confirm this morning, as a result of the bank being dragged into the Nigel Farage debanking scandal.
Sky News’ Mark Kleinman has reported that Rose will still walk away with a seven-figure sum in the form of her basic annual pay for her twelve-months notice, which went unserved after a dramatic late-night resignation earlier this year.
That sum is likely to be £2.3m, made up of a £1.16m basic salary and a similar amount in fixed shares.
However the bank has elected, says Kleinman, to scrap a series of share options which Rose could have been entitled to. Though numbers are unclear, some reports have pegged the number in the £5m range.
Natwest’s board originally stuck by Rose after she admitted to unwittingly giving the impression that Nigel Farage, a customer of Natwest-owned Coutts, had been ‘debanked’ due to financial considerations in a conversation with a BBC journalist.
However the bank, which is 40 per cent owned by the taxpayer, announced just hours later that Rose had resigned after a midnight gathering.
Rose was also dragged over the coals by the data watchdog, before this week issuing a grovelling apology to the ex-CEO that she was not given due process to respond.
Reports emerged earlier this year that Rose would consider legal action if large chunks of her bonus were wiped away.
Last month a Travers Smith report commissioned by Natwest suggested that Rose’s comments to the journalist were inadvertent.
“I note the Travers Smith report this morning. This confirms everything I told the Board in July was correct. Both Travers Smith and the Information Commissioner’s Office have concluded that I inadvertently confirmed what had already been widely reported, that Mr Farage held an account at Coutts. The ICO also concluded the ‘impact around this specific disclosure was minimal’,” Rose said of the report when it was published.
Rose’s representatives and Natwest have been contacted for comment.