Alison Rose: Ex-Natwest CEO hires Princess Diana's lawyers in bid to protect £10m bonuses

The former boss of Natwest has hired a legal team in a bid to protect her £10m bonuses.

Dame Alison Rose stepped down from her position as chief executive after disclosing details of former Ukip leader Nigel Farage’s bank account to a BBC journalist. Law firm Travers Smith was appointed to conduct a review in the wake of the debanking saga, which found failures in how Natwest treated confidential information and how it communicated with Mr Farage.

But the decision to shut down Mr Farage’s bank account was lawful, and predominately commercial, it reported.

Mr Farage said earlier this year that Coutts had moved to shut down his account because his political beliefs did not align with the bank. The political leader’s public statements on “issues such as the environment, race, gender and migration” served to be a reputational risk and were not considered to align with the group’s “purpose”, Travers Smith said.

But it concluded that Mr Farage’s accounts being unprofitable was the principle reason behind the closure, while his political and personal views were supporting factors.

Now, Rose has reportedly hired Mishcon de Reya to represent her interests in the departure, including over pay and bonuses, according to The Times. The firm is best known for representing Princess Diana during her divorce.

According to Natwest's annual report in 2021, former executives will receive all outstanding bonuses if they leave due to illness, redundancy, retirement, disability or death. The board of directors can also use its own discretion for individual cases.

Mr Farage unearthed comments from internal messages between staff at the bank which suggested they had “driven him out of the country” over his account closure. He said he obtained documents of the remarks through a subject access request to the bank for all the information it holds on him.