Dame Alison Rose: NatWest ex-boss may receive multi million-pound payoff after departure

Dame Alison Rose’s departure from NatWest over the ‘inaccurate’ bank account leak has come under renewed scrutiny, with reports claiming she could receive a multimillion-pound payoff.

The 54-year-old CEO departed the bank by "mutual consent" due to the Nigel Farage debanking issue. Her resignation was announced during a late-night board meeting called in response to pressure from Downing Street, the chancellor, and other senior cabinet members.

Analysts speculated that Dame Alison’s agreement with the board to resign immediately meant she would be paid in lieu of working notice. According to NatWest’s annual report, the bank can issue a payment in place of 12 months’ notice, indicating that she is eligible for a year’s salary.

According to The Times, Dame Alison received £5.25 million in compensation last year, which includes a £1.1 million base salary and the same amount in shares, as well as an annual bonus and performance-related stock awards. NatWest said it would consider reducing Rose’s pay after she admitted to disclosing private information about Farage to the BBC.

Farage told the paper: “She should not be getting a payoff at all. She has breached the most basic rule of banking and brought the NatWest group into disrepute. It’s a reward for failure.”

Dame Alison stepped down as chief executive effective with immediate effect after admitting to being the source of the inaccurate story about Farage’s bank account, which she leaked to a BBC journalist.

Sir Howard Davies, chairman of the NatWest Group, said on Wednesday (July 26) that the board and Dame Alison, who has held the role for four years,  agreed by “mutual consent” that she would step down from her role.

In a statement, Dame Alison said: “I remain immensely proud of the progress the bank has made in supporting people, families and business across the UK, and building the foundations for sustainable growth.”

Her resignation however came as no surprise following briefings by Downing Street that she had lost the confidence of the prime minister and chancellor. Mr Farage also accused the management of Coutts bank - which is owned by NatWest - of a "serious breach" and called Dame Alison’s position "totally untenable".

The scandal originally surfaced when the BBC falsely claimed that Mr Farage’s account had been cancelled because he didn’t meet Coutts’s financial requirements. Later, Mr Farage was able to get documents that proved his political affiliations and ideas had a role in the decision-making process.

Dame Alison told BBC business reporter Simon Jack that she thought it was well known that Mr Farage was a client of the private bank Coutts and had been offered a NatWest account.

Later, she admitted that she had made a "serious error of judgement," but she emphasised that she had not participated in the decision-making process and that the bank had closed the account as a business decision.