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

(Sharecast News) - NatWest Group is set to withhold the majority of a potential £10m payout to Alison Rose, its former chief executive, it was widely reported on Friday. Rose stepped down by mutual consent in July following the apparent debanking of Nigel Farage, the controversial former leader of UKIP.

Since then, the board has been reviewing whether to pay the discretionary elements of Rose's pay package, and is due to announce its decision on Friday.

According to multiple reports, including Sky News and the Financial Times, the board is understood to have decided not to grant Rose "good leaver" status, which would have entitled her to the full payout.

But it also expected to conclude there was no misconduct on her behalf.

It will mean that under the terms of her contract and 12-month notice period, Rose will be entitled to receive her 2023 salary, pension and fixed-pay share allowance, totalling around £2m. Some of her legal fees will also be paid by the bank.

But she will forfeit around £5m in deferred share awards as well as the majority of a potential £2.9m annual bonus and long-term share awards.

Rose was one of the City's most high-profile and widely-respected female executives. She spent 30 years at NatWest, which is 39% owned by the government, and became 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 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 Farag with the journalist.