U.S. Terror Listing Hurts Banking Services for British NGOs

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The influence of the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is widely believed to be behind the December 2008 decision of Barclays bank to discontinue the account of a predominantly Islamic UK charity, Ummah Welfare Trust (UWT).  This came on the heels of Lloyds TSB withdrawing financial services to another UK charity, Interpal, designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. but has been cleared in the UK.

UWT also has a relationship with the Al-Salah Society, a group designated by OFAC in 2007 for being connected to Hamas. Barclay's letter to UWT notifying the charity of its account closure gave no reason for their action.

Ummah Welfare Trust raises funds for humanitarian aid projects and orphanages in several countries including Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq.  The bank's closing of their account will force the charity to pursue different financial services. According to UWT website, "UWT continues its banking facilities through other conventional banks. "
 
Many in the UK Muslim charitable sector are preparing for additional problems due to the conviction of the Holy Land Foundation for supporting terrorism. An unnamed British banking source said, “You can’t be a multinational bank and hope not to fall foul of the US’s anti-terrorism funding laws. The Holy Land Foundation trial that has made it pretty clear to bankers that you can’t do Nelsonian Blindness about what these ‘charities’ are doing.”