‘Ethical’ bank let Rose West keep account

An “ethical” bank let serial killer Rose West keep her account open.

The Co-operative Bank allowed West to keep her bank account open after a review of customers with criminal records a decade ago.

The Co-op, which has the slogan “Ethical then, now and always”, allowed West to stay on as a customer because closing her account would cause problems for her daughter, who was the main user, The Telegraph reported.

Bosses at the organisation deemed keeping West as a customer carried little risk to the bank’s reputation, it is understood.

Meanwhile, the bank has previously closed the accounts of drug dealers and gang members that were likely to include the proceeds of crime.

West, 69, was jailed for life in 1995 at HMP New Hall in Flockton, Yorkshire for committing ten murders with her husband Fred, who killed himself before the trial.

The Co-operative Bank was previously embroiled in scandal after its former chairman Paul Flowers, a Methodist minister who was chairman of the bank for three years, was filmed buying and using illegal drugs including crystal meth, crack cocaine and ketamine.

The scandal is believed to have prompted a review of accounts belonging to criminals in 2014 in a “clean-up” of its books.

Last month it emerged that Coutts, a subsidiary of NatWest, had closed former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage’s account after a 40-page dossier produced by the bank found his political views did “not align” with the bank’s values.

Alison Rose, chief executive of NatWest Group, wrote to Farage to apologize for “deeply inappropriate comments” made about him in the documents and resigned from her role.

Farage said yesterday: “In 2023 my sins are considered by the banking industry to be more serious than the acts of serial killers like Rose West. I, of course, do not align with the thinking of the bank, on net-zero policies, transgenderism, and so much else.

“And that’s why this whole business of closing accounts on the basis of ‘reputational risk’ is highly political. Everybody should have a basic right to a bank account, and there are some exceptions to that, but not very many.”

On Wednesday it emerged that Dame Alison Rose is set to receive a £2.4m pay package despite resigning last month.

A Co-op Bank spokesman said: “We would not discuss individual customer account details.”