Remember when Coutts was worried about risking its reputation?

We’ll call it ‘karma’ that their name hangs in shreds, draped over the financial world in a manner that resembles the rotting heads that turned stomachs as they dripped onto the pavement beneath London Bridge. They were intended as a warning, just as Coutts’ evisceration is scaring the heck out of its financial peers.

It may be that we are not looking at the death of Coutts, but of ESG, which showed its bloody hands too soon for the public to stomach.

Speaking of heads, Nigel Farage is out looking for a few on his Twitter account. Empowered by the bank’s indefensible position, we can expect this to be a marathon of revenge from someone who knows exactly how to use the magnifying glass of public outrage to burn the feelers off his opponents. And they deserve it.

The rattled political class, feeling the heat, are clutching their nuts and acting all surprised by the revelation that customers have been debanked based on their politics.

Sorry… Coutts clarified: ‘This was not a political decision, but one centred around inclusivity and purpose.’

Where are all those zealous government entities that fact-check misinformation and disinformation when you need them? Last time anyone checked, ‘inclusivity’ was a creation of social justice politics.

It took a while, but the Chief Executive of Nat West, which owns Coutts, mustered an apology about the bank’s ‘deeply inappropriate comments’ that ‘do not reflect the views of the bank’. They added, ‘I believe very strongly that freedom of expression and access to banking are fundamental to our society and it is absolutely not our policy to exit a customer on the basis of legally held political and personal views.’

Why did it happen? Presumably, a lot of people were involved in signing off on the termination of a public figure like Nigel Farage. Major explanatory documents do not magic themselves into existence. It smells like the Bud Light saga when everyone looks around in confusion after the public grind their teeth and eye off the pitchforks.

There’s no more room for denials or vague accusations regarding Russia, Nigel Farage was stripped of banking services because his bank didn’t like him – or because he laughed at a Ricky Gervais joke… The 40-page dossier was like prying open the Woke hive mind. The rationale for attacking Farage was just as petty, deranged, and irrational as you’d expect from an institution desperate to shower itself in the newest tradable commodity – virtue. Since when were banks beacons of virtue? They spend most of their time working out how much money they can extract out of their customers on loan repayments before they go bust – milking them as you would farm animals.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is doing his best to look shocked.

When he was Chancellor, Rishi Sunak was happy to encourage the finance industry to delve into ESG (Environmental and Social Governance). In 2021, he was responsible for new requirements that forced asset managers to find a way to include ‘sustainability’. These ‘Sustainability Disclosure Requirements’ forced the industry to spend time and money exploring environmental judgments. The point of the initiative was to divert money into ‘green’ investments. It was one of many ESG-style ventures embarked upon by the now stumped Sunak.

‘It’s not right for anyone to be denied financial services because they’re exercising their lawful right to free speech,’ said Rishi Sunak weakly.

Instead, it was Treasury Minister Andrew Griffith who rightly said, ‘The privilege of a banking licence in a democracy should imply a duty not to “debank” because you disagree with someone’s views.’

Politicians spent decades inserting politics – often via legislation – into our financial systems and now they’re at a loss to explain why banks are making political judgments on their clients. Rishi Sunak and his ilk opened this Pandora’s Box and now they need to slam it shut.

The only reason conservative politicians have suddenly diverted from their ESG mantra to weigh in on the Coutts case is because they know that as soon as they lose power – probably at the next election – they’ll be the ones wallowing around without bank accounts. It’s self-preservation, but on this occasion, their personal fear aligns with the public interest.

To those who say – stupidly and without any foresight about where this is leading – ‘businesses can choose who they service’. No, they cannot. Businesses are bound by anti-discrimination laws that mean a company cannot turn someone away because of their race, religion, sexuality, or political affiliation. We brought these laws in because we’re not a society of savages and barbarians, even if the Left would like to see the economy victimise people they don’t like.

When it comes to banks, they operate as a fundamental service – particularly as we approach the possibility of a cashless society. Debanking is akin to excommunication, banishment, or an eternal prison sentence. I wanted to hush Mark Dolan in a recent interview on GB News when he started comparing debanking to shutting off water and power. We do not need to give these people suggestions, Mark!

Those who resisted Covid vaccination know exactly how it feels for the political and corporate forces to unite against them, delighting in the political power of economic discrimination. No one came to the rescue of the unvaccinated, and if the conservatives don’t tie up banking licences with anti-discrimination measures, around half the population will find themselves living on a knife edge, afraid to speak out against political causes in case their mortgage is cancelled.

ESG and banking is more powerful than a Chinese Social Credit system because it takes citizens by the wallet, effectively blackmailing them into political compliance. It is a violation, not only of trust within the banking sector, but of the fundamental protected right of freedom of association. Banks indulging in this behaviour openly challenge the concept of political freedom and what’s worse, they do not appear to understand or care about the seriousness of this development.

That’s what happens when individuals and corporations perceive themselves to be acting as agents of the greater good. We saw it in Covid and we’re seeing it again with Climate Change.

Discrimination is not only acceptable – it is essential if you are doing it to punish customers for wrongthink. The arrogance of these organisations is breathtaking, but they were unleashed upon us by politicians who thought using ESG was a way to shore up their political power.

I have been writing about this for nearly 10 years, because this behaviour started with online payment gateways that used ‘community guidelines’ to play politics with banking services. PayPal and others pioneered political discrimination of their customer base, but politicians turned a blind eye – as did most citizens. It’s just citizen journalists – who cares about them? The mainstream media was quite happy for online payment gateways to shut their free-market competitors down. Politicians didn’t care either. Those uncontrollable digital writers were an annoyance.

We said that the behaviour of online banking services would work backwards like a virus and corrupt brick-and-mortar banks. That’s not possible, they insisted, and yet here we are.

Given how many commentators, politicians, and powerful industry figures are salivating at the chance to shut people up by locking their wallets, not only defending but praising Coutts, we are probably only going to get one chance to protect citizens from a politicised banking industry. Every Western nation, including Australia, should be launching an immediate investigation into the banking industry to ensure that this behaviour is exposed and stopped. Coutts should be the last time we read about political discrimination in the banking world.

‘We look forward to working with government, the regulator, and the wider industry to ensure that universal access to banking is maintained,’ said Coutts, long after their nose was rubbed in the mess.

So, where is Anthony Albanese? Where is Peter Dutton? Why are they so quiet? The Big Four banks in this country are up to their necks in ESG. Our politicians should not be waiting around for an Australian Farage, they should act now to protect the people of this nation. Unless, of course, they would rather protect the banks.

Alexandra Marshall is an independent writer. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.