As a former trainee who worked her way up to become the first female head of a major British lender, it is Dame Alison Rose who bears ultimate responsibility for the closure of Nigel Farage’s bank account.
Since taking the helm at Natwest, which owns Coutts, Dame Alison, 53, has overseen its pivot to save the planet and put diversity at the center of the business.
Coutts, which only accepts wealthy clients, has in recent years focused less on maintaining its image as the late Queen’s bank and more on championing initiatives on climate change. His transformation seems to have come from above.
Dame Alison grew up overseas with a military family, before returning home when she was 15 and then graduating from Durham University in 1991.
She joined Natwest as a graduate a year later and spent three decades rising through the ranks and then running RBS’s corporate and banking division.
In 2019, she was named the first female CEO of RBS, which later became Natwest, in what was seen as a watershed moment for the banking industry.
However, rather than focus solely on the finances of the lender, still one-third owned by the taxpayer, he decided that the bank should get involved in debates on climate change and LGBT rights.
Addressing climate change is a ‘central pillar’
Just months after her appointment, Dame Alison announced that “addressing climate change would be a central pillar” of her leadership, and earlier this year she urged banks to finance net zero.
“Simply put, tackling the climate emergency is one of the most important issues of our time, if not the most important, and banks have an important role to play in mobilizing the power of finance to meet net zero ambition. “, said.
On the same day as his speech, the bank canceled new loans for oil and gas extraction.
She was appointed a Dame Commander of the British Empire in the New Year’s Honors List and has been an advocate for equality in the workplace, co-authoring a review on women’s entrepreneurship.
Last year he took home £5.25m for the year as he received an annual bonus for the first time since the UK government bailed out the bank during the 2008 financial crisis.
