How to navigate Bank Accounts regarding PEP and individual "none conforming" views.

jimlad68

I don't know if I have missed it but I have not noticed any comments or opinions or campaigning from Moneysavingexpert (or Martin Lewis) on the issue of banks closing accounts because of people's views or being a politically exposed person (PEP).

I would have hoped that MSE would provide some guidance on navigating this current serious restriction on people's financial choices. Perhaps even a list of institutions who are closing accounts for PEPs and people's views and those who are not.

 

Momanns

There isn't a list. There are rules and each bank may interpret them differently. 

PEPs have been around for years and require additional due diligence, bank's may view this as not making commercial sense but there is no truth to all bank's closing PEP accounts.

Agree a bank shouldn't close accounts for views and this seems to be gaining traction in parliament so there may well be more ahead. 

born_again

PEP's have been around for years, but the one in the news was not shut down for being a PEP, simply they now longer met the banks criteria to hold a account.

It has emerged that he has since been offered a standard personal account with NatWest Group, 
So if his PEP status was the reason (as he claims) then they would not have offered another account within the group.

jimlad68

born_again said:

So if his PEP status was the reason (as he claims) then they would not have offered another account within the group.

Thanks for that but from what I remember, he was offered a Personal but not Business Account. Then begs the question, why is one dodgier than the other. 

I am still no wiser as to why MSE has no comment/opinion/ analysis on this!

dcs34

https://wingsoverscotland.com/ruined-in-a-day/#more-138330

lr1277

Some speculation here based on this article:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/voices-nigel-farage-brexit-revenge-134551008.html

Farage setup a political party. But he didn't set it up as a political party but a company with himself as the boss. As a company it would have required a business account and not an account that a political party would normally use.

My speculation is that he wanted the business account for his political party/company. That would be too difficult for many if not all banks. That is why no business account was offered.

My two penneth.

GeoffTF

There does not appear to be any hard evidence that anybody has had their bank account closed because of their views. The has not even been an allegation that any bank has done it repeatedly.

jimlad68

GeoffTF said:

There does not appear to be any hard evidence that anybody has had their bank account closed because of their views. The has not even been an allegation that any bank has done it repeatedly.

I think there are many examples: without spending too much time:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12251447/British-building-society-admits-closing-accounts-people-rude-discriminate.html
https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/politics/uk-has-become-a-political-monoculture-says-former-homosexual-who-had-his-bank-account-cancelled-by-barclays-4200254
https://www.itv.com/news/2022-06-29/halifax-tells-customers-critical-of-pronouns-on-badges-they-can-close-account
It is a sad day when Banks (not really known for their morality unless they are legally obliged) can tell their customers to change their personal "legal" morality.

Thanks for all the observations but I am still no nearer to an answer to my original question.

dealyboy

OP ...

There have been two threads on this, the first was started at the beginning of the month and then deleted after a couple of days, the second was started a couple of days later and then was also deleted. Each had tens of posts.

I presume this was because some of the themes are contentious, political and social, and outside the scope of MSE forums policy.

gary1312

jimlad68 said:

It is a sad day when Banks (not really known for their morality unless they are legally obliged) can tell their customers to change their personal "legal" morality.

Nonsense. Banks can't, and don't, tell customers to change their 'personal legal morality'.

They can, and do, however, choose who to do business with.

Nebulous2

Previous threads have been closed down, as stated already, because they stray from the point of a money-saving forum and become political and full of very stretched analogies. 

The stories often seem to be a component of culture wars, people who set out to create a situation they can then exploit for publicity. 

I've spent very little time on them, and wouldn't read most of the news sources linked, but what they seem to deliberately obscure is that people are not having their accounts closed down for their views. They are having accounts closed down for how they promote these views to bank staff and whether it tips over into unacceptable / abusive behaviour. 

The rules around PEPs are a legal recognition that the risks for banks may be higher for certain groups of people. Here's a law society summary. Politically exposed persons | The Law Society

 I've only came across the PEP thing once that I can remember. I have a friend whose niece is a politician. The niece did something ordinary and mundane, by buying something the aunt needed on her behalf. The aunt paid for it by transferring money to the politician's bank account, something many of us would do if we were due a friend / relative money. A modest sum of money, around £12. The aunt then had a phonecall from her bank saying she had given money to a politically exposed person, and asking lots of questions, what was it for, what was their relationship etc?