NatWest set to scrap bulk of Dame Alison Rose’s multi-million pound payoff, reports say

NatWest is reportedly set to scrap the majority of former chief executive Dame Alison Rose’s multi-million pound exit payout, following the row over Nigel Farage’s bank accounts.

According to Sky News, the bank’s board has decided not to pay most of the discretionary elements of her pay package and will make its announcement to the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

It is not clear what her full exit package could be, with estimates that it could be up to £10m.

NatWest, which is 40% owned by the taxpayer, has been under pressure to take a hardline on her exit package, after Dame Alison admitted a “serious error of judgement” when she leaked information about former Brexit Party and Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s bank account with Coutts.

It had emerged that during a charity dinner at the five-star Langham Hotel in London, Dame Alison told the BBC’s business editor Simon Jack that Coutts was closing the account of Mr Farage for “commercial reasons” but details later emerged that executives had concerns over what “his xenophobic, chauvinistic and racist views”.

At the time, Dame Alison Rose said she did not share any personal financial information, but was “wrong to respond to any question raised by the BBC about this case”.

In July, the Treasury was reportedly weighing up whether to use the influence of the Government’s 39 per cent stake in NatWest to try to force the board to veto her payoff.

Two senior treasury sources told i at the time there was an appetite within Government to block any payoff for Dame Alison.

Mr Farage reacted to the latest reports on Sky News saying it was a “very good piece of news”.

In an interview on Thursday night he said: “What she did was wrong in absolutely every regard.

“She’s done a bad job all round. The thought she was going to walk away with £10m having done this was outrageous.

“I would like to think that what has happened to Alison Rose ends the woke culture in banking, ends them playing politics and just dealing with customers on a commercial basis.”