The heads of Britain’s biggest banks have committed to the principle of “non-discrimination based on lawful freedom of expression”, following a meeting with the financial services minister Andrew Griffith.
The news comes in the wake of Coutts’s politically motivated de-banking of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, an incident that captured the media’s attention and has shone a spotlight on the growing problem of politically motivated financial censorship in western liberal democracies.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mr Griffith said that the bank bosses had committed to bring their policies into line with planned government reforms as soon as possible.
The reforms in question relate specifically to the UK Payment Services Regulations (i.e., the regulatory framework applied to over 1,000 banks and payment processors licensed to operate in the UK).
The Government Reforms have yet to become law.
And the banks are only promising to follow those reforms ‘as soon as possible’, and not immediately.
Have these ‘planned’ reforms only just been made up, or are they ready to become law before the GE? Anyone know.
Perhaps the expats who have had their UK Bank accounts closed because of Brexit, and had been with their UK banks for years can now have their accounts re opened.
Khandro, the passing of any law relating to this is some way off.
From your own OP ‘….. the bank bosses had committed to bring their policies into line with planned government reforms as soon as possible’. Actually, Reuters are saying they’ve ‘committed to the principle’ of the proposals which is even more vague. I can see much obfuscation and general deliberate incompetence being used to delay any implementation. And that’s before any law is passed.
Yeah, but they claimed it wasn't the case before. It's amount in your account, or being a PEP, of some other such excuse. It needs more than a promise a certain reason won't be the claimed reason to remove a vital service.
//a manufactured controversy designed to make the government look good.//
Haha, only a communist would think what the Banks are doing is great. Totalitarianism at its best, just being done via a Bank rather than a Government.
Gromit, would you rather a law was rushed in? The problem with knee jerk reacting laws is that actions always have unintended consequences, indeed it was the PEP regulations that have been used to justify this curtailment of free speech,.
I object to how this is being presented as a ‘success’.
The banks and the Government have had a little chat and decided they must be seen to be doing something. But the Government have not published their reforms, and the banks have no option to follow the regulations when they do. So nothing will happen or change immediately, it will be many months before the new regs are brought in , so no one has to agree to a bank account for Farage (or anyone else), until then.
It is the Governments job to regulate the banks. We seem to be applauding them for just doing what they are supposed to.
Subjective stuff like decisions, excuse finding, and opinions always involve options. I doubt anyone thinks PEP was the excuse used in Farage's case, unsure why anyone would think it was.
Gromit; //I object to how this is being presented as a ‘success’.//
The 'success' is in that the law is going to change, entirely brought about by the protestations of Nigel Farage, & how we all now know just what has been going on in private, the CEO of Coutts has admitted as such, & has been forced to resign for doing so.
That seems to me to be huge success, & N.F. is deserving of credit for it.
Khandro,
// entirely brought about by the protestations of Nigel Farage //
If you follow my link above about the reforms, it is dated January 2023, 6 months before the Farage debacle. Looks suspiciously like Andrew Griffith is jumping on a bandwagon and making stuff up off the cuff.
My bank is a service, it looks after my money, and I pay it to do so.
these are all facts I was astounded to learn the other day. I wd put them as pious hopes ( esp looking after the money, and 2008) but hell it is a fact if Andy says it is.
with the Nige, yeah I was taken in by MLR and PEP - it has been a bad week for me- I didnt think a Bank wd lie ( after its not the prime minister haw haw haw)
it is a bit like Lord Dawson saying in 1936 the King was dead, when he wasnt. real " 'durr', they are not meant to say things like that are they?"