Banks do have the right to refuse custom if they think their business is at risk, and Russian money is deemed a risk to their business. When it was unclear to me as to why Farage was being frozen, I was uneasy. Now it appears to be due to Russian influences, I can understand why maybe a bank would want to protect itself from suspicious activity and criminal money.
Just as restaurants are free to not serve unruly customers and bakers a cake for a customer if it infringes on their beliefs (yes, including Christians for gay weddings), a bank can refuse custom for a customer if they are deemed a risk, and Russian money is a huge risk now. If the bank doesn’t find such comfortable, for their business, why should they be forced to host an account for a customer? You could speak about evidence and the need for it, and I agree for a court case. Of course it may end up being an incorrect decision, but he is free to challenge it. If there is nothing I will go back to saying the banks were too hasty, but the links to Russian money and allegations makes me understand why the banks would do this.
You could argue that due diligence should be lower, but then you’d have to justify why it’s good to allow banks to be more carefree with criminality, and this could easily lead to more corruption.
