Insurance firm denies service to UK figure over ‘political views’
Swiss insurance firm Swiss Re denied a business loan to politician Richard Tice over his political views, a report said Monday.
Tice applied for the loan last year, but a recently disclosed financial document shows the company denied Tice for being a “reputational risk” citing his leadership of the Right-leaning party Reform UK.
“I’m a man who’s made money, brought in investment and created jobs in this country. If that’s how they think of people who are successful businessmen then God help us all,” said Tice, who blamed “wokeness” for Swiss Re’s decision.
The report comes just over two months after Nigel Farage, who founded Reform UK, revealed his accounts were being shut down by Coutts Bank without explanation. Internal documents, however, showed that bank executives declared Farage a “reputational risk” because of his support for Trump, friendship with unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic, and opposition to totalitarian gender ideology.
Farage’s story caused an upset in the banking industry, leading to the ousting of two major bank executives. Many other people and organizations came forward after Farage’s disclosure and revealed that they had received similar treatment from Barclays Bank, Santander Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC, Metro Bank and First Direct. Reports suggest that banks most often appear to close accounts if customers oppose totalitarian gender ideology. Yorkshire Building Society, the UK’s third-largest such financial institution with three million customers, recently admitted to canceling customers who “discriminate in any way.”
While it is unknown how many customers have been debanked for their political views, recent reports show that banks are canceling customers at record rates.
UK financial watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority revealed last week, in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, that in 2016–2017 banks shut down about 45,000 accounts and the number has been increasing every year. In 2021–2022 British banks closed just over 343,000 accounts, an average of over 1,000 accounts every business day.
Farage created a website, AccountClosed.org, to help those who have been unfairly treated by financial institutions for their political views.
“I’ve just been inundated by small businesses, by folk all round the country. People in absolute fear, terror, lives being ruined, thousands of businesses being closed. These are people who have done nothing wrong whatsoever,” Farage told GB News.
