Well well. The head of “financial tracking” at HSBC, the bank that just closed all my accounts for no reason, isn’t just a transwoman, but he and his transman partner are the top two names on the list of Patrons of controversial under-investigation trans “charity” Mermaids.
His job is “financial tracking,” for the purpose of stopping financial crime. AFAIK, having a bank account is not a financial crime. The poster who had his or her bank account involuntarily closed (not identified here) hasn’t been accused of any financial crime. Mr. Graf (he is not “Hannah” and he is not a “mum”) is misusing the powers of his job to actively punish his own bank’s customers for “wrongthink.” He is committing financial crime himself. Oh, and he doesn’t belong in a “servicewomen’s network.” He was a serviceman.
This weekend, The Sunday Times posted an article about the Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) closing the Internet savings account of an Anglican church Rev Richard Fothergill who was a customer for 17 years:
Fothergill, from Windermere, Cumbria, typed out his views on transgender ideology to the building society on June 18. He responded to a monthly email he gets from YBS asking for his feedback, after noticing that it was displaying support for Pride month on its website. The minister, who no longer has his own parish but founded the Filling Station evangelical network, wrote out “a couple of paragraphs” about how he did not agree with trans ideology — or the idea that you can have alternative genders — being pushed on children.
Fothergill said: “I was polite all the way through. I was pointing out that they are a financial house — surely they should just be worrying about financial issues.”
On June 22 he received a letter from YBS about his “views regarding LGBTQIA+”. It said the comments he made were “not tolerable” and the building society had a “zero tolerance approach to discrimination”.
Fothergill approached the Free Speech Union after his bank’s letter.
Toby Young, the union’s founder, told The Times: “People who’ve been debanked contact the Free Speech Union all the time, but even I was shocked by this story. If you respond to a bank’s request for feedback in good faith you shouldn’t lose your account if you say something it doesn’t like.
“That’s the kind of thing we’d expect to happen in Communist China, not a supposedly free country like ours.”
I heard just a couple of days ago (via Barry Wall) that Barclays had come to a financial settlement with a victim of a bank account closure for ‘wrong think’ just before being dragged to court. The victim in that case was a Christian organisation which advertises counselling for Christian adults who don’t want to be gay. Whatever we may think of gay conversion therapy, even if allegedly voluntary, the bank effectively admitted (despite going to great pains to avoid admitting in court) that it isn’t up to a bank to withdraw services on the grounds that someone working for the bank doesn’t like some of the views of a bank account holder.
It’ll be interesting to see further developments in this case; GC views are specifically protected in law, whilst the government is considering banning conversion therapy.
I wonder if these banks so keen to police the attitudes of their customers regarding the rainbow alphabet soup’s demands are as punctilious about the behaviour of their big corporate clients? One or two of them might be involved in activities that are contributing to the pillaging and immolation of the planet. Burning down the world gets a pass, but god help you if you get a Holy, Scared Pronoun wrong. You’ll be banking elsewhere.
iknklast: Maybe. Or maybe not. If there’s an easy way to avoid the punishment, people will take it, even if that means getting on board with atrocities. It’s when backs are against walls that people fight back.
I just recently was laid off by an American bank, and we annually had to pass regulation compliance courses in order to remain in good standing. We also were admonished never to reveal the names of people we talked to, no matter how famous and how much we wanted to tell our friends to impress them. But most importantly, the only accounts that were to be closed were those which had violated banking laws or those rules spelled out in the T&C. There was a wave of closures of the accounts of weed stores in California, because even though they were legal in CA, Federal Banking Regulators declared that since the stores were illegal under Federal Law, banking regulations did not allow for banks to keep their money in accounts. Those were some difficult calls to handle when a business called in to check their balance and we had to tell them that their accounts were closed, that a check was being mailed for their balance and it would probably take 30 days for them to get their money.
I realize that we are talking about English banks, so the rules are different in some manner, but I would like to think that Mr. Hannah Graf is going to come under some scrutiny for his actions resulting in a written warning.
Two former Brexit Party MEPs have revealed how their bank accounts were also cancelled after they were elected to the EU Parliament in 2019.
Henrik Overgaard Nielsen said MetroBank severed ties with him “without an explanation” after “months of paying bills on time and having stable income and outgoings”.
Christina Jordan added that, months after she was elected for the Eurosceptic party, she suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Nationwide Building Society.
“My family and I had all our accounts closed even though I’d been a loyal customer for 30 years,” she wrote on Twitter.
“To those cheering and celebrating the cancellation of Nigel Farage’s bank accounts, let’s hope it never happens to you.”
Henrik Overgaard Nielsen, a former MEP for the Brexit Party, was informed his account with MetroBank would be closed.
In a post on Twitter, Mr Nielsen said he had a stable income, had never owed MetroBank any money and was not in any financial difficulty. His daughter was also refused a mortgage, and Mr Nielsen suspects this is because he was a guarantor.
Banks are to be told by the Treasury that they must protect free speech amid an escalating row over the blacklisting of customers who hold controversial views.
Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, is understood to be “deeply concerned” that overzealous lenders are closing down accounts because they disagree with customers’ opinions and has asked City minister Andrew Griffith to investigate the issue.
His job is “financial tracking,” for the purpose of stopping financial crime. AFAIK, having a bank account is not a financial crime. The poster who had his or her bank account involuntarily closed (not identified here) hasn’t been accused of any financial crime. Mr. Graf (he is not “Hannah” and he is not a “mum”) is misusing the powers of his job to actively punish his own bank’s customers for “wrongthink.” He is committing financial crime himself. Oh, and he doesn’t belong in a “servicewomen’s network.” He was a serviceman.
Politically motivated “debanking” is a thing now.
This weekend, The Sunday Times posted an article about the Yorkshire Building Society (YBS) closing the Internet savings account of an Anglican church Rev Richard Fothergill who was a customer for 17 years:
I heard just a couple of days ago (via Barry Wall) that Barclays had come to a financial settlement with a victim of a bank account closure for ‘wrong think’ just before being dragged to court. The victim in that case was a Christian organisation which advertises counselling for Christian adults who don’t want to be gay. Whatever we may think of gay conversion therapy, even if allegedly voluntary, the bank effectively admitted (despite going to great pains to avoid admitting in court) that it isn’t up to a bank to withdraw services on the grounds that someone working for the bank doesn’t like some of the views of a bank account holder.
It’ll be interesting to see further developments in this case; GC views are specifically protected in law, whilst the government is considering banning conversion therapy.
I wonder if these banks so keen to police the attitudes of their customers regarding the rainbow alphabet soup’s demands are as punctilious about the behaviour of their big corporate clients? One or two of them might be involved in activities that are contributing to the pillaging and immolation of the planet. Burning down the world gets a pass, but god help you if you get a Holy, Scared Pronoun wrong. You’ll be banking elsewhere.
If banks begin closing the accounts of all people who are not fully onboard with trans, they may discover just how misleading many of the polls are.
iknklast: Maybe. Or maybe not. If there’s an easy way to avoid the punishment, people will take it, even if that means getting on board with atrocities. It’s when backs are against walls that people fight back.
I just recently was laid off by an American bank, and we annually had to pass regulation compliance courses in order to remain in good standing. We also were admonished never to reveal the names of people we talked to, no matter how famous and how much we wanted to tell our friends to impress them. But most importantly, the only accounts that were to be closed were those which had violated banking laws or those rules spelled out in the T&C. There was a wave of closures of the accounts of weed stores in California, because even though they were legal in CA, Federal Banking Regulators declared that since the stores were illegal under Federal Law, banking regulations did not allow for banks to keep their money in accounts. Those were some difficult calls to handle when a business called in to check their balance and we had to tell them that their accounts were closed, that a check was being mailed for their balance and it would probably take 30 days for them to get their money.
I realize that we are talking about English banks, so the rules are different in some manner, but I would like to think that Mr. Hannah Graf is going to come under some scrutiny for his actions resulting in a written warning.
Also, Friday, The Telegraph reported on debanking Brexiteers:
And The Telegraph followed up yesterday:
And this evening, The Telegraph followed up again:
I feel better now, after reading that.