Natwest shut down the accounts of one of Britain’s biggest Holocaust memorial charities with no explanation.
Yad Vashem UK – an education charity based in London – was told last month that ‘following a recent review’, the bank had decided ‘to cease’ all relations with the organisation.
The group was told it had less than four months to find a new bank before the account was closed. It comes little more than a year after NatWest’s then-chief executive, Dame Alison Rose, was forced to resign after private bank Coutts closed Nigel Farage’s account in a ‘debanking’ scandal.
NatWest told Yad Vashem UK: ‘We are not able to discuss this decision with you or provide you with any further information in relation to our decision-making.’ It has prompted a volley of backlash from a coalition of Jewish groups demanding an explanation and an apology from NatWest. And following an intervention by the Daily Mail this week, NatWest blamed an ‘administrative error’, and agreed to reverse its decision and apologise to the charity.
A NatWest spokesman said: ‘We have apologised to the customer as this was an administrative error and we will be continuing to bank Yad Vashem UK. We are working to ensure something similar does not happen again and are sorry for the upset caused.’
Yad Vashem UK is the British arm of world Holocaust remembrance centre Yad Vashem, which is based in Jerusalem. It promotes Holocaust education and runs a variety of projects in conjunction with its partners around the world, including Israel, to educate people about the Holocaust and fight anti-Semitism.
UK chairman Simon Bentley accused NatWest of almost ‘jeopardising Holocaust education’.
He said: ‘It is shocking that NatWest did this. Yad Vashem is an apolitical registered charity focused on Holocaust education, handling unprecedented levels of anti-Semitism here in the UK and worldwide. We have, I’m sure, only proven to be a model customer with NatWest for many years, consistently maintaining our current account in credit, with large levels of funding on deposit with them.
‘I can’t understand why NatWest almost jeopardised Holocaust education in this way.’
Last year NatWest was embroiled in a scandal after Mr Farage’s account with Coutts was abruptly closed.
A month later the BBC reported that the bank did not want his custom because he did not have enough money in his accounts, claiming the decision had nothing to do with the now-Reform leader’s politics. But after Mr Farage submitted a subject access request, it was revealed that staff at the bank had spent months compiling evidence on the ‘significant reputational risks of being associated with him’.
A 40-page document revealed the account was closed because his views were ‘at odds’ with those held by the company. The BBC apologised for its inaccurate story and Dame Alison resigned after she was revealed as the source of the false leak.
The chairman of Yad Vashem UK has submitted a subject access request to NatWest.
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: ‘We urge NatWest to disclose their reasoning behind abruptly shutting down the bank account of Yad Vashem UK. For the bank to act in such a fashion and refuse to explain why will be viewed with significant concern within the Jewish community.’
A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism added: ‘At a time of surging anti-Semitism and pressure on financial institutions to sever ties with Jewish groups and the Jewish state, the bank owes Yad Vashem and the Jewish community an explanation.’