Barclays threatens vital remitance services for millions ..

[Blessed]

I'm sure most of you have heard Barclays plan to close accounts of remittance service providers in the UK. Around 250 companies, including Somali Xawalas will be hit.

 

FOR Mohamed Abdulle, sending money to his family in Somalia means a trip to a high street in Stratford, East London, home to a large expatriate community. Once there he hands over cash, a telephone number and a name, usually that of his grandmother who lives in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, to an agent. A few minutes later Mr Abdulle, who works as a shop assistant, gets a text message letting him know the cash has arrived on the other side. This fast and reliable system, developed during decades of war in Somalia, is used by hundreds of thousands in the global diaspora, as well as by some UN offices and aid agencies to pay staff.

 

Perhaps not for much longer. Barclays, a big retail bank, has served notice that it will close the accounts of some 250 money-transfer businesses. The bank said the decision followed a routine legal review. Some money remitters “don’t have the proper checks in place to spot criminal activity,” the bank says, or could “unwittingly” be financing terrorists.

 

 

Barclays was among the last British banks willing to deal with agents who cheaply transfer money to poor countries. Many European banks have become nervous about such cash transfers after the American government last year forced HSBC, another big British bank, into a $1.9 billion settlement over allegedly shoddy money-laundering controls.

 

The impact of Barclays’ decision will be felt across east Africa. Without accounts, the transfer agents cannot operate and their businesses in Somalia’s neighbours, Kenya and Ethiopia, may be hindered, too. The agents, who need a bank account to get a licence, insist they have no problems with law enforcement or regulators. Cash going to extremists in Somalia is sent in sacks by plane, not from a London suburb a few hundred dollars at a time.

 

The agents are asking what extra measures banks want them to take. Abdirashid Duale, who runs Dahabshiil, the largest Somali money-transfer agency and a customer of Barclays for the past 15 years, says he is willing to comply with any transparency checks the bank requires. He estimates that $500m is sent to Somalia from Britain each year and thinks much of this money will switch to underground agents if legal operators are put out of business.

 

Dominic Thorncroft, who heads the British money-transfer trade association, says as many as 50 of his 170 members face closure. Under pressure from British MPs, some of whom are elected in constituencies with large migrant populations, the bank has agreed to a 30-day stay which ends in mid-August.

 

Meanwhile, a group of 100 academics and other notables has written to the British government asking it to avert a humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. An estimated 40% of Somalia’s population depends on money sent from abroad. A recent study showed that three-quarters of recipients need the money to buy essentials, such as food and medicine.

 

“This will mean children being pulled out of school, people going hungry or not getting medicines they need,” said Laura Hammond, a lecturer at the University of London. The Somali Money Services Association, another British trade body, warned that the consequences of the closure of the accounts would be “worse than the drought” that ravaged Somalia two years ago and killed tens of thousands.

 

So far attention has focused on Somalia, where years of conflict have destroyed the banks and left no real alternatives to cheap money transfers. But the 250 firms put on notice by Barclays also include some serving Ghana and Nigeria, as well as India and Bangladesh. More sophisticated and expensive competitors such as Western Union may now benefit. A reduction in competition in the African remittance market will drive up prices.

 

Africans already pay more than any other migrant group to send money home. The cost of remitting to sub-Saharan Africa, typically around 12%, is three percentage points higher than the global average, according to the World Bank. If African rates could be brought in line with those of South Asia, African migrant families would save more than $4 billion a year. Instead rates are likely to rise further.

 

Some observers are calling for the creation of new institutions that could replace private banks. One suggestion is a “remittance bank” hosted by the UN or a multilateral agency. Another is a code of conduct worked out by remitters, banks and regulators. “This needs to be driven by government,” says Leon Isaacs of the International Association of Money Transfer Networks. “Or the banks won’t get the comfort they want.”

 

 

http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21581995-western-worries-about-money-laundering-are-threatening-economic-lifeline

[Blessed]

There's an active campaign to get Barclays to reverse their decisions both in the media:

 

Another article by MP Rushnara Ali : http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/15/barclays-money-transfer-agents

Mo Farah pleads with Barclays : http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/26/mo-farah-barclays-remittance-market

Aid Agencies raise concerns : http://www.africareview.com/Business---Finance/Barclays-account-shutdown-raises-Somali-fears/-/979184/1910966/-/g6avw6z/-/index.html

 

and through Petitions (below) -- please sign and share.

 

 

 

Somali commmunity led : http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/barclays-dont-close-vital-money-transfer/

 

And a general petition by MP Rushnara Ali : http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/barclays-dont-close-vital-money-transfer/

[Oz]

This is sad news seriously. I mean C'mon Barclays why NOW??

 

 

Ps: signed the petition. I think SOL members should sign the petition. Thanks

[Alpha Blondy]

i ain't signing no petition nor should any self-respecting person. :mad:

 

Dahabshiil has kept the Somali people and the South Sudanese people in a state of financial bondage for too LONG, now. we say ''NO MORE''. the consequences of a mind infested with fear because ''Dahabshiil waxaad ka qadata $100'' will make the problem go away, is NO MORE?. the dependency 'mindset' borne out of ''Inaadeero Sacid from Norway ayaa so diridoona'' has had the most destructive results on our minds. we DEMAND deliverance from financial bondage and to break FREE from its vicious cycle of poverty.

 

i support Barclay's decision to cut off this MONSTER's umbilical cord. Dahab's shocking anti-competition agenda is very apparent. they recently had CAC Remittance from the Yemen closed down because it was offering cheaper rates. this is the result of years of monopolising our ability to choose since Dahab is the ideal choice. what's more, it operates without due diligence and makes dodgy investments with clients money. not to mention, it's hacking prone servers continually, embarrassing its clients without regard for secrecy or how a certain minister managed to stack-up $1.3 million dollars in his Dahab account.

 

of course, it should be said that Barclays is using the most pathetic excuse ever....... which i'm sure most banking executives will agree makes no financial sense. Barclay's could've done this at the height of the 'Global War on Terrorism' mashruuc but that they do it now is suspect.

 

ta kale, the recent auditing activities of HAGistan's central Bank conducted by KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers were commissioned by Barclays and other Zionist banking institutions built on the usury, the same usury that's continues to sustain Dahabshiil's hegemony, to see the central bank of HAGistan's AAA credit rating and its ability to function with their monies and the deeqbixiyaasha caalamiga's dawarsi.

 

there's a great scramble of sorts set to occur in the Somali administrated territories as well as in the occupied territories. Barclay's decision marks only the beginning of the end. there are people deciding on the fate of our endless supply of natural resources as we slumber. under the guise of building 'a stable peaceful HAGistan', we've seen ex-hedge fund managers device destructive ''reform plans'' for the national assets of Somalis. in doing this, the remittance industry (worth $10Billion) in the Somali administrated territories and the occupied territories is up for grabs .......... and it will broken up and sold to the highest bid lower than Western Union's 12% extortionate rates on the $100. Hassan 'I've just combed my hair' Sheikh Mohamud specifically asked for no interference with the remittance and telecommunications sectors during the last Conference in London, marka what gives? in Hassan 'I look like a real President' Sheikh Mohamud, the HAG have someone who clearly doesn't know what they are doing. balse, that's beside the point and peripheral to our proceedings here. more importantly, however........... closing down the 24,000 agents of this MONSTER, whose tentacle-like reach has dipped into our pockets one time or another, is sure to end dependency.

 

We’re requested to be rich in good deeds, which is a way of storing up our treasure (wealth) in heaven. Our security is meant to be in what we’re saving up in heaven through good deeds rather than in how much our savings or earthly investments are worth - Matthew 6:19-21

[Alpha Blondy]

*Blessed;970877 wrote:

Mo Farah pleads with Barclays

:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jul/26/mo-farah-barclays-remittance-market

you know, the great Melez Zenawi once said of the great long distance runner Haile Gebrselassie, after he attempted to launch a political career......''there is no brain in the foot, only bones and muscles''.

 

waad garatay sheekadani halkaay ku socoto.

[Blessed]

Thanks Oz... please share.

 

Alpha.. 250 remittance services are affected adna Dahab iyo 'Hag' uun baa kuu muuqda. SMH.

[nuune]

^^ Because no one is asking Alpha to send some lacag now, as he already made himself to Hargeisa, he run away from London and run into those ina-adeero calling him and asking him for money, number one reason he is in Somaliland waaye, qaraaba-goys arxanka u daran, isagey u taalaa oo aakhirka xiidmaha ka shiilmi doono, markii horeba afartii biloodba iyo khamiis ayuu $20 dollar u diri jirey eedo Xigto.

[Alpha Blondy]

 

 

blessssedooow,

 

inaar,

 

this video is for you. a bit of a dumb and misleading video but gives the gist of the situation, ma garatay? :cool:

 

let me know what you think?

 

Al.

[Alpha Blondy]

nuune;971164 wrote:

^^ Because no one is asking

Alpha

to send some lacag now, as he already made himself to Hargeisa, he run away from London and run into those ina-adeero calling him and asking him for money, number one reason he is in Somaliland waaye, qaraaba-goys arxanka u daran, isagey u taalaa oo aakhirka xiidmaha ka shiilmi doono, markii horeba afartii biloodba iyo khamiis ayuu $20 dollar u diri jirey eedo Xigto.

abti,

 

sometimes.............because i do not wish to see my family, i send monies from one branch to another in the same city, ma garatay?

 

adna waxaad ka hadleysa London iyo meelo aan loo jeedin. naga daa ciyaarta, ya?

[Blessed]

Update: Barclays has given another extension -- hope that the governments concerned, the bank and SMTs work together to formulate an agreeable security strategy.

 

Alpha Blondyeey inaar, thanks for sharing the 'dumb' and "misleading" video and supporting the campaign in your own way. It's appreciated ee sidaa ula soco.

[Alpha Blondy]

*Blessed;972090 wrote:

 

 

Alpha Blondyeey inaar, thanks for sharing the 'dumb' and "misleading" video and supporting the campaign in your own way. It's appreciated ee sidaa ula soco.

no really,adigaa mudane, meel kasta iyo marka kasta.

[Maaddeey]

Alpha baan ku raacsanahay qaar waxa uu soo qoray!. Barclays maaha dhibtu, Xawaaladuhu weli iyadey ku dambeeyaan.

[Alpha Blondy]

Maaddeey;972155 wrote:

Alpha baan ku raacsanahay qaar waxa uu soo qoray!.

Barclays maaha dhibtu, Xawaaladuhu weli iyadey ku dambeeyaan.

saas miyaa?

[Maaddeey]

^^ haaye ma shaki baa kaa galay?. Mase 'saas miyaa?' baad 'loooool'shii ku bedeshay?.

[Alpha Blondy]

^ NO. saas maha, dee.

 

i should've been clearer. i was merely asking what part of the nonsense i wrote you'd agreed with you?