HSBC terminates Gaza-linked Islamic charity’s bank account and others

[Super Mentalita]

I call myself a proud customer of the HSBC bank! 

HSBC has written to an array of UK Islamic charitable organizations to inform them their accounts with the bank will be terminated. One such organization has carried out relief work in crisis-stricken Gaza for over a decade.

In formal letters issued to a think tank, a charity and a North London mosque, HSBC claimed continued provision of its services would counter its “risk appetite".

Family members of a man who runs the think tank have also received similar letters from HSBC. But the multinational bank reportedly offered no explanation for its decision to withdraw its banking services in these cases.

Finsbury Park Mosque

Finsbury Park Mosque, the first of these charitable organizations, received a letter dated July 22 from HSBC confirming its bank account would be terminated. The bank notified the mosque’s treasurer that the account would officially close on September 22. The only explanation offered in the letter for this sudden termination was that the provision of such“banking services” now fell outside HSBC’s “risk appetite.”

Abu Hamza, who was convicted in the US of terrorist activities in May, formerly ran the mosque. Following Hamza’s departure from this role in 2005, the mosque's chairman, Mohammed Kozbar, insists a considerable degree of work was carried out to transform the establishment's image. Whether HSBC targeted the mosque as a result of Hamza's criminal conduct, however, remains unclear.

Mohammed Kozbar expressed disbelief that HSBC failed to offer him or the mosque’s treasurers an opportunity to address its underlying concerns. Insisting the organization’s financial flows are legitimate and firmly rooted in Britain, he is unable to comprehend the bank’s motivation for terminating the registered charity's account.

"For us it is astonishing - we are a charity operating in the UK. All our operations are here in the UK and we don't transfer any money out of the UK. All our operations are funded from funds within the UK,” he told the BBC.

"They have put us now in a very, very difficult situation - this is the only account we have,” he added.

http://rt.com/uk/176652-gaza-hsbc-charity-scandal/