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Watchdog: Ex-NatWest boss breached Nigel Farage's privacy

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The former boss of NatWest breached Nigel Farage's privacy rights in sharing information about his banking, the UK's privacy watchdog has said.

Dame Alison Rose resigned in July after admitting she had made a mistake in speaking to a BBC journalist.

The Information Commissioner's Office said her action was "unacceptable".

However, given she has resigned, and NatWest is investigating, it will not take further action at this time.

In July, the BBC reported Mr Farage no longer met the financial requirements for a Coutts bank account, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Dame Alison later admitted she was the source and resigned hours afterwards.

The BBC later apologised, saying its reporting had been incomplete.

Mr Farage said in July he was filing a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.

A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner's Office said it had upheld two parts of Mr Farage's complaint.

"We found that an individual employed by NatWest shared information when they should not have done, and that by doing so they infringed the complainant's data protection rights," the ICO said.

"We have been clear with the bank that these actions were unacceptable and should not happen again", it said, adding that since Dame Alison resigned her post and the bank had commissioned its own investigation, it will not take any further regulatory action at this time.

A NatWest spokesperson said: "We fully co-operate with the ICO in its assessment of any customer complaint but it would not be appropriate for us to comment on this individual case."

The NatWest board is currently considering whether Dame Alison will receive £2.4m of pay contractually due to her, plus bonuses.

The banking group, which includes NatWest, RBS and Coutts, is due to report its third quarter results on Friday.

When Dame Alison landed the top job at NatWest she became the most powerful woman in UK banking, overseeing a bank with about 19 million customers in the UK and 60,000 employees globally.