Serial killer Rose West was allowed to keep her account with The Co-operative Bank while a feminist group which challenged transgender rights was “debanked”, reports have suggested.
It is understood the High Street bank considered closing West’s account when it carried out a review of customers with criminal records about 10 years ago.
But West, who murdered at least 10 women and girls with her husband Fred West in the 1970s and 80s, was allowed to remain a customer at the bank, which carries the slogan: “Ethical, then, now and always”.
West was deemed to ‘pose little risk to the bank’s reputation’, but drug dealers and gang members were “debanked”, according to the Telegraph.
She was jailed in 1995 and is being held at HMP New Hall in Yorkshire. Her husband killed himself before the trial.
A banking insider reportedly told the Telegraph that The Co-operative Bank reviewed accounts belonging to criminals in 2014 in a bid to “clean up” its books.
It was decided that closing West’s account would cause problems for her daughter who was the main user. The Co-operative Bank told the Telegraph it would not discuss the details of an individual customer’s account.
Its boycott of the unnamed feminist group was reportedly exposed in 2017 in the bank’s Values and Ethics Report, which listed organisations it considered unacceptable and turned down.
The bank reportedly said the group had “actively declined the rights of members of the transgender community”. The ban sparked outrage among campaigners who said the decision was highly inappropriate.
Co-Op Bank said at the time it had given the organisation an opportunity to make its position on diversity and equality clear and how it complied with the Equality Act.
The Co-operative Bank has been approached for comment.
News of West’s account comes after Nigel Farage had an account he held with private bank Coutts closed over the “reputational risks” of being associated with the former Brexit Party leader.
Mr Farage told the Telegraph: “In 2023 my sins are considered by the banking industry to be more serious than the acts of serial killers like Rose West.”
He added that closing accounts on the basis of reputational risk was highly political and everyone should have a right to a bank account.
Meanwhile, Coutts owner NatWest has said its former boss Dame Alison Rose is in line to receive a £2.4million pay package, a month after she resigned in disgrace from the banking giant.
