Muslim charities in UK face debanking

‘Debanking results in lack of trust in charities, as one cannot rent office, pay bills, grants, salaries,’ says CEO of Cordoba Foundation

Omer Faruk Madanoglu |21.02.2024 - 

ISTANBUL

The money in the Cordoba Foundation's bank accounts was blocked via "debanking," as their balance was confiscated, causing a "difficult time."

"If you don't have a bank account, you can't rent an office, pay salaries, pay your taxes, pay your bills for electricity, for water, for gas, you can't pay anything. You can't operate, so what happens is you have to close down," Anas Altikriti, CEO of the London-based charity Cordoba Foundation, told Anadolu.

Altikriti stated that after the UK's amendment to the banking law in 2020, some banks closed the accounts of some of their customers without any given reason, noting that he believes banks employ "debanking" to about 1,000 accounts per day, most of those accounts belonging to Muslims.

He highlighted that the government enforced its own laws instead of the banking laws it used in common with EU countries after the UK's departure from the European Union through Brexit and that the people who were victimized by the practice due to the tightened debanking laws suffered difficulties because of litigation processes.

Altikriti pointed out that people who are debanked are put on the blacklist of all banks and their money flow is controlled, as banks restrict their facilities and do not tell customers that they have been debanked for a long time.

He underlined that most businesses in the UK do not accept cash and, instead, allow transactions to be made with debit or credit cards, saying: "Without a bank account in a country like the UK, which is moving more and more towards a cashless society, (with) all credit cards, all contactless payments, so, how do you operate without a bank account? You can't get a credit card (and) we now have many places where you go to get a cup of coffee, and you can't pay because they don't take cash, so having a card is essential to your life. You can't operate on an individual level (without a bank account), so imagine how that impacts yourself as an individual as well as your family and community."

'Debanking is driven by political reasons'

Altikriti mentioned that the banks debank the bank accounts of Muslim non-governmental organizations (NGOs) directly linked to the government and that "it is driven by political reasons."

He emphasized that many Muslim organizations in the UK were targeted by banks due to the government or politicians targeting them, adding that the Cordoba Foundation was also subjected to account closures.

Altikriti reminded that the foundation's accounts were frozen when they were going to organize a forum in London in June 2022 in order to come up with solutions for the political tension in Tunisia, without any warning from the bank, or any reason provided for the closures, as when he consulted the bank in person, he was not told as to why the foundation's accounts were frozen.

He said that the accounts of the donors to Cordoba were also being closely monitored after banks closed the accounts accepting donations for the forum, causing great concern for the Muslims in the UK, as the donors who wanted to pay the forum's suppliers from their accounts were not successful in sending funds.

Altikriti pointed out that the Cordoba Foundation was cut off from all banks and the decision was not made by a single bank, and he added that they had a difficult time when the money was confiscated, leading donors to be scared for the credibility of the foundation, saying:

"When I hear that a charity that I give money to has no bank account, I will think, maybe they are doing something wrong, maybe they are not trustworthy. I continue to campaign for the rights of Muslims and also to campaign against government policies, and against the media and how they show and tell stories of 'Muslims doing this, Muslims doing that, Muslims are suspects, Muslims are this and that," as well as now, we have the issue of the of debanking, (ultimately), it has an impact on the public who are listening to this, (as) we are seeing the rise of this Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims across Europe."

Practice of debanking

The UK amended its banking law to toughen "debanking," which allows banks to close the accounts of customers who damage the banks' reputation without giving a reason, following Brexit on Feb. 1, 2020.
Banks have the power to close the accounts that the government wants for reasons such as anti-corruption, money laundering, political prohibitions, and anti-terrorism, according to the law.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that he would bring the issue to parliament to soften the debanking practice after one of the UK's leading banks, NatWest, closed the accounts of politician and commentator Nigel Farage in June 2023.

UK banks closed over 343,000 accounts in 2022 without providing a reason, according to a report published by the Financial Conduct Authority in September 2023.

The authority reported that most of the accounts were closed because they could pose a "potential threat."

The UK-based umbrella organization, Muslim Council of Britain, made a statement on Aug. 1, 2023, saying that Muslims and Muslim organizations were most affected by the debunking and that the situation is causing deep concerns in society.

*Writing by Emir Yildirim