Monzo dragged into the “debanking” row after closing account of Gina Miller’s political party

Digital bank Monzo has closed the business bank account of Gina Miller’s political party, the prominent anti-Brexit campaigner told the BBC.

While Miller was initially not told why her account was closed, the bank subsequently explained that it doesn’t allow political parties to open Monzo Business accounts.

"Like lots of banks, we do not accept any political parties as Monzo Business customers in the same way that we don't currently accept trusts, clubs and a range of other organisations,” a Monzo spokesperson said.

"In this case, the account wasn't originally categorised as a political party.

"After this was identified and corrected, the customer was given notice that the account would be closed. We recognise that this experience will have been frustrating for the customer and we're sorry for that."

It’s unclear why the account wasn’t originally categorised as a political party.

It’s the latest example of “debanking”, although somewhat different from Nigel Farage’s experience with NatWest-owned private bank Coutts, where his personal account was closed due to his political views.

Over the last few days, the CEOs of both Coutts and NatWest have resigned.

Politicians and political parties often have an uphill struggle when trying to access financial services, in part due to rules around Politically Exposed Persons, who are viewed as higher-risk individuals.

While Miller’s case with Monzo is different, being a miscategorized business account, it shines further light on the difficulties the political community faces when doing something as simple as opening a bank account.