UK: Money Laundering Policies Result in Debanking of Hundreds of Thousands of People
An estimated 453,230 accounts – the highest figure in a decade – were shut down
by Prosperity Institute, Midlands-TV and GB News
An estimated 453,230 accounts – the highest figure in a decade – were shut down, according to figures released to The Telegraph under Freedom of Information rules. This trend has raised concerns about the impact of overregulation and anti-money laundering laws on account closures.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said that hundreds of thousands of people will still be targeted by the new rules. The excuse for debanking is rooting out financial crimes, but the reality is that it is easier for banks to close an account rather than go through an extensive process to try and source the money in unusual transactions.
Debanking skyrockets to record high as nearly 500,000 accounts shut down in UK
Debanking continues to be a major issue in the UK as nearly 500,000 customers saw their accounts forcibly closed last year, the highest level in a decade, shocking new figures have found.
A Freedom of Information (Foi) request has found an 453,230 accounts were shut down in 2025, which is around ten times more than the 45,091 accounts closed in 2016-17.
It is also an 11 per cent increase on the 408,000 accounts shut down in the 2023-24 tax year, which saw Reform leader Nigel Farage the victim of debanking from NatWest-owned private bank Coutts.
In the majority of circumstances, banks and building societies referred to “financial crime reasons” as the main reason for account closures, The Telegraph reports.
These figures come after the introduction of new legislation which will force lenders to give customers longer before they close accounts, giving at at least 90 days’ notice.
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New rules will fail to tackle the scale of de-banking says Nigel Farage
NEW rules aimed at stopping bank accounts being closed unfairly will fail to tackle the scale of the problem and hundreds of thousands of people will still be targeted, according to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
He said on GB News: “Well, I think I’m probably the most high-profile case of de-banking ever. This happened back in 2023 at the height of the summer, and it kind of dominated the newspapers for week after week until I managed to get rid of the chief executive of NatWest and the chief executive of their subsidiary Coutts.
“Now I was made a number of promises from the government of the day. I did my best with the FCA, the Bank of England. I tried to argue that having a bank account actually is a right in the modern world.
“It’s as important as running water and electricity, and some modest changes will come into effect in a few months’ time, but not the right to have a bank account, as you would have in France or Belgium or many other countries.
“But just have a look, since I was de-banked, at the number of people who’ve suffered this, the graph just goes up and up and up. And within the last year, nearly half a million accounts have been closed.
“Now these are either business or personal. And why is it happening? Well, I’ll tell you the reasons given are financial crime reasons, an unusual transaction comes into your business account, your personal account, and because of the money laundering rules, the banks have to go through such an expensive and extensive process to try and source the money, it’s cheaper for them to simply close the account.
“Do we want to stop money laundering? Well, the one or two barber shops in high streets, I suggest might be a better place to look, but hey. And that really is the reason, and we’re using a sledgehammer to miss the nut, because, actually, for every £100 spent on compliance in banking in Britain to discover money laundering, you get £1 back for every £100.”
He added: “Well, final thought for me on this, folks, is it any wonder, with this sort of thing going on that now 7 million people in this country own digital assets or cryptocurrencies in some form, because they feel they can’t be de-banked, they can’t be got at?”
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