Rishi Sunak’s government instructed the UK’s financial regulator to review how banks offer services to politicians, a move designed to show it’s on top of an issue stoking controversy among prominent right-wing figures who are influential among the ruling Conservative Party’s base.
Ministers legislated last month to reduce the due diligence burden on banks handling accounts of domestic “politically exposed persons,” compared to non-domestic, after criticism that the law was having unforeseen consequences. The issue returned to the fore last week when former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage suggested his accounts were closed because of the rule.
