Former Bank of England economist Andy Haldane has claimed he was debanked like Nigel Farage after being refused an account because of his “political” connections. Mr Haldane said he was turned down by an unnamed lender last year, which told him the decision was “because you are politically connected by dint of working for the Bank of England.” In a speech on Wednesday night at the Royal Society of Arts, where Mr Haldane is now chief executive, he said: “Three problems with that: one, I wasn’t working for the Bank of England [by that point]. Two, the Bank of England is by statute independent from government. Third, the Bank of England was their regulator, so the risk was to their regulator.” Mr Haldane highlighted the story with a point on a slideshow saying “we are all Nigels now,” in reference to Mr Farage who had his bank account closed down last year. The anecdote formed part of Mr Haldane’s argument that regulation had gone too far in the City and was now crushing growth by putting off any risk taking. The Bank’s former chief economist said regulations with “the best of intentions” were “chilling risk appetite and forestalling investing”. He...