HSBC has been singling out its Syrian customers in the UK, treating them as second-class customers and abusing its power over them as their financial providers. The Syrian Rethink Rebuild Society, as well as human rights organisation RAPAR (both Manchester based) have documented cases in which HSBC has inhibited accounts of Syrian nationals residing in the UK unless they could provide certain documentation, closed their accounts with no legitimate justifications, refused them mortgages, and turned them down as potential customers.
In these various cases, the bank been unable to identify any breach of its terms and conditions. Furthermore, many of these Syrian customers note that they have not had any international transactions, so they have not had money entering or leaving the UK.
Over a year ago, HSBC announced that it would close accounts of Syrian nationals in the Middle East and North Africa region who were not Advance or Premier Class customers, claiming that compliance costs made it unprofitable to deal with them. It has not made a similar statement regarding overseas Syrian nationals. This pattern within the UK, therefore, seems to be a part of an unofficial policy to place undue scrutiny over Syrian customers on the sole basis of their nationality.
One letter from HSBC to a Syrian customer reads, 'Our records show that you are resident in a country that is subject to financial sanction restrictions. Due to the increased requirements for compliance with international obligations concerning payments to and from sanctioned countries, we have taken the decision to close the above account(s).'
One Syrian demanded an explanation from her customer services advisor when her account was inhibited. She was shocked when she received a copy and paste of paragraph 25.4 of HSBC's terms and conditions, which states that HSBC has the right to take the appropriate action to ensure the prevention of 'fraud, money laundering, terrorist activity, bribery, corruption, tax evasion and the provision of financial services to persons who may be subject to economic or trade sanctions.'
She said, 'It was like a slap in the face, I couldn't believe the magnitude of what was being implied in the email. And what's even more, I have yet to receive any objective evidence from HSBC to substantiate these allegations.'
She went on to say that 'the issue has since been resolved with HSBC, and they reopened my account after verifying some documents. However, in meeting with them, they did specifically tell me that these extra measures were taken solely because of the Syrian nationality, and admitted that nothing in my account activity would have otherwise caused reason for suspicion. It seems that the Syrian identity has been criminalised.'
Syria has been affected with an uprising that began in March of 2011. Many Syrians were residing in this country at the time on a temporary basis for study or work, some with plans to eventually return home.
Upon the outbreak of the uprising, many had to apply for asylum and received refugee status to avoid returning to a conflict zone.
One Syrian student who also had his account closed notes, 'The Syrians in Britain have already lost so much back home and are constantly worried about the safety of their families. This adds yet an extra burden that they have to carry around.'
Rethink Rebuild and RAPAR are calling for the re-evaluation of HSBC's discriminatory policy as well as a launch of a formal investigation into the matter.
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