NatWest to withhold bulk of ex-chief Rose's payout

Former NatWest Group chief executive Alison Rose will miss out on nearly £8m in share awards and bonuses, it was confirmed on Friday, as the lender looks to draw a line under Nigel Farage debanking row.

In a brief statement, the board said that while there was no misconduct on Rose’s behalf, good leaver status was not applicable.

As a result, she will forgo discretionary elements totalling £7,579,604. That includes £4.7m of unvested share awards and potential bonuses of £2.9m.

She will still receive contractual elements comprising salary, fixed share allowances and a pension allowance of 10% of salary, totalling £1,748,142. A payment will also be paid towards her legal fees.

Rose, who is on a 12-month notice period, stepped down by mutual consent in July following the apparent debanking of Farage, the controversial former leader of UKIP.

One of the City’s most high-profile and widely-respected female executives, Rose spent 30 years at NatWest – which is 39% owned by the government – becoming its first female chief executive in 2019.

But earlier this year she unintentionally provided misleading information to a BBC journalist about an internal decision to shut Farage’s account at Coutts, NatWest’s private bank.

She insisted that the decision had been taken for commercial reasons, as he no longer met Coutts’ significant financial requirements.

But it subsequently emerged that the bank had in fact believed Farage to be a reputational risk, with internal documents accusing him of being a "disingenuous grifter" who was "pandering to racists".

A subsequent independent review by NatWest, by law firm Travers Smith, found the decision to close Farage’s bank account was both lawful and in line with its policies.

But it also found the lender had failed to communicate the decision properly, and that it had mishandled Farage’s complaint.

Farage has remained vocal in his criticism of NatWest throughout, and a number of politicians have argued for a crackdown on debanking.

However, a review launched by the Financial Conduct Authority in response found no evidence banks that were shutting or denying accounts to customers based on their political beliefs.

Earlier this week, the Information Commissioner’s Office issued a formal apology to Rose, after it incorrectly suggested she had breached data protection laws by discussing Farage with the journalist.