Rita Panahi: Banks must withdraw from divisive political posturing

Aussie banks have already weighed in on issues such as trans activism and we should be wary if they follow the sinister escalation in the UK.

Nigel Farage fought back fiercely against the bank and the BBC’s false reporting. Picture: Getty

The Chinese Communist Party’s social credit system is coming to the West if the actions of certain financial institutions are any guide.

In Australia, banks are engaging in divisive, unnecessary political posturing on matters that have nothing to do with banking from trans activism to backing Labor’s race-based referendum.

That is bad enough but in the UK there has been a sinister escalation.

In the past couple of weeks we’ve seen an incredible turn of events with prestige bank Coutts firstly closing the accounts of Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage and then claiming, falsely, that it did so because of commercial reasons with the BBC claiming, falsely, that the closure was due to his accounts falling “below the financial threshold required to hold an account at Coutts”.

Australian banks are engaging in divisive, unnecessary political posturing.

The Left were adamant that this wasn’t corporate tyranny against a conservative political figure but a simple decision made in line with the bank’s guidelines.

They ignored the fact that a number of other banks also refused Farage’s business after the Coutts dumping.

But the ugly truth emerged once the 40-page dossier Coutts had compiled on Farage was released showing his accounts were closed because, according to senior staff at the bank, the Brexit Party leader’s views on a range of issues from illegal immigration to Brexit to trans issues were “at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation”.

The BBC has since issued a grovelling apology for its “incomplete and inaccurate” reporting on the matter and the CEO of the NatWest Group, which owns Coutts, Dame Alison Rose has resigned over the scandal.

Coutts’ dossier said Nigel Farage’s views were ‘at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation’. Picture: Monique Harmer

But this only occurred because Farage has a significant profile and fought back fiercely against the bank and the BBC’s false reporting.

How many others have had their accounts closed for challenging Leftist dogma on the trans movement, immigration or any other contentious issue?

We cannot allow financial institutions to institute a CCP-style social credit system. No good comes from banks acting as moral arbiters.