In the end, the only real surprise was that it took so long. The chief executive of NatWest, Dame Alison Rose, had already been forced to step down after it became clear she had leaked confidential information about Nigel Farage’s personal financial affairs to the BBC. The board has been under sustained pressure all week. And now the man at the very heart of the scandal, Peter Flavel, the CEO of Coutts, has stepped down as well.
If the bank is to have any future there is a lot of repair work to be done – and Flavel was hardly the man to lead that
That was surely the right decision. A private bank only exists to be discreet and to provide exceptional service. It was clear that under Falvel, Coutts had long since stopped doing that. If the bank is to have any future there is a lot of repair work to be done – and Flavel was hardly the man to lead that.
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