Muslim charities still being debanked despite Farage furore
Muslim charities say they are still having their bank accounts closed without warning or explanation and face difficulties opening an account despite the political backlash after Nigel Farage’s high-profile debanking.
It means charities face obstacles in carrying out their work, with some even being blocked from providing humanitarian aid and life-saving operations, according to a report from the Muslim Charities Forum (MCF).
It found 68% of Muslim charities reported difficulties opening bank accounts, 42% experienced a complete withdrawal of banking services and 42% also had significant challenges with transferring funds.
This delayed payments which damaged humanitarian work, the report said.
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Real-life harms were outlined by charities anonymously interviewed for the research.
One charity running a hospital in a conflict zone was not able to pay doctors and nurses for two months. Another supporting Syrian refugee children with cancer in Turkey had a payment delayed for a year, “severely” impacting the timely delivery of care to the children. A third received an eviction notice from a shelter because a payment had not arrived.
But even when debanking did not directly halt a project, it damaged 44% of respondent charities’ relationships with partners, they said. Delays in sending funds or having their account closed led to a breakdown in trust, the MCF added.
While anonymous, the report included testimony from charities.
Real-world harms
One told the report author of danger to staff when payments didn’t go through.
“Our charity was operating within an area in the Middle East, payments were getting held up by banks,” it said. “Because of these delays, local vendors would come to our field offices demanding payment at gunpoint, putting the lives of our workers at risk.”
While Muslim charities make up a small number of the UK charities sector, Muslims donate more than any other faith group, according to surveys.
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Having no bank account means charities are in breach of the law, the MCF said.
There is no legal recourse, however, for charities who have been debanked. In the UK there is no legal right to a bank account.
Charities have to defend themselves even if there’s no wrongdoing, often without knowing why an account is closed or a transaction hasn’t gone through, according to the report.
Why are Muslim charities being hit?
Five issues converged to make debanking a particular problem for Muslim charities, according to the MCF: alleged Islamophobia, “highly common” names of charity workers being on a terrorist list, risk-averse banking, operating in high-risk areas like Syria, and the challenges faced by charities more broadly – difficulty complying with or understanding banks’ due diligence requests.
“Evidence suggests that structural Islamophobia plays a role, with Muslim-led charities often unfairly targeted by banks for perceived risks without concrete evidence of wrongdoing,” the report, lead-authored and researched by Abdulsami Arjumand, said.
Among the recommendations laid out is for bank staff to undergo anti-racism training, to “improve decision-making” and “avoid stereotyping or perpetuating racial and Islamophobic biases”.
Banks are risk-averse in their operations and have been terminating and restricting relationships with clients perceived as posing a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing.
This has disproportionately affected charities, Mr Arjumand’s report said, particularly those working in or with Muslim communities.
Responding to the study, banking lobby group UK Finance said any decision to restrict access to or close an account, is only taken after careful consideration and based solely on the need to comply with regulatory obligations.
“We want the process of opening and managing a bank account to be as clear and straightforward as possible and welcome engagement from charity organisations,” said the body’s managing director of commercial finance David Raw.
“Having read this report, we have contacted the Muslim Charities Forum to discuss the issues they are facing, as this is an important part of enhancing services,” Mr Raw said.
“We have ongoing and regular engagement with the wider charity sector, humanitarian organisations, and regulators on access to banking matters. With their support, we recently launched a new guide for voluntary organisations to help with opening and managing bank accounts,” he added.
How can this still be happening after the Farage furore?
Unlike countries such as Belgium, France and Italy, there is no legal right to a bank account in the UK. Banks do not have to provide services to everyone who wants them.
The Muslim charities’ research echoes a point made by finance regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in their investigation of debanking.
“An important question for policymakers is whether all individuals, businesses and organisations should have the right to an account, as is the case in some other countries,” it said in its September 2023 report on bank account access and closures.
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Nigel Farage criticised banks acting as ‘moral arbiters’
The comments and report came after the highly publicised debanking of Reform leader Nigel Farage. His account with exclusive bank Coutts was closed after the lender deemed him a reputational risk and said he had alleged links to Russia.
“The time is also right for a debate on how we balance access to bank accounts with the threat of financial crime, as well as firms’ reasonable risk and commercial appetites,” the FCA said in their 2023 publication.
It pointed out that anti-discrimination measures in the payment accounts regulations don’t apply to charities and political parties.
After the debanking of Mr Farage the political reaction from the previous Conservative government was strong. It committed to bringing in “tougher rules to stamp out debanking”. No legislative changes were made.
The Treasury, however, told Sky News it was committed to new laws to prevent debanking.
“Banking services fulfil a vital role in the lives of millions of people and businesses across the UK, and the government is committed to bringing forward legislation to enhance customer protections in cases where their bank account is terminated by their provider,” a Treasury spokesperson said.
“Further details will be set out in due course.”
With the changes it’s understood customers will have to receive detailed and specific explanations when their account is closed and generally have more notice of closures.
But government stopped short of acceding to the MCF’s recommendation of establishing a legal right to a basic bank account for charities.
Methodology
Nineteen charities responded to the MCF’s call for survey participants, a response rate described as “low”, which demonstrates charities’ concerns about coming forward to talk about debanking.
Despite promises of strict anonymity, most charities feared the reputational damage of being associated with debanking, which the report said, can result in further banking difficulties.
As well as being carried out by the MCF, the research was supported by the University of Aberdeen.
Responding to the MCF report, the FCA said, “We know that some groups can face challenges accessing bank accounts. We recently set out clear expectations on account access and have been actively engaging with the sector to ensure that these are being met.”
“Smaller charities will benefit from the protections of the consumer duty. We continue to monitor data on account access.”
Negotiations to reset the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU are going “to the wire”, a Cabinet Office minister has said.
“There is no final deal as yet. We are in the very final hours,” the UK’s lead negotiator Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
On the possibility of a youth mobility scheme with the EU, he insisted “nothing is agreed until everything is”.
“We would be open to a smart, controlled youth mobility scheme,” he said. “But I should set out, we will not return to freedom of movement.”
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The government is set to host EU leaders in London on Monday.
Put to the minister that the government could not guarantee there will be a deal by tomorrow afternoon, Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “Nobody can guarantee anything when you have two parties in a negotiation.”
But the minister said he remained “confident” a deal could be reached “that makes our borders more secure, is good for jobs and growth, and brings people’s household bills down”.
“That is what is in our national interest and that’s what we will continue to do over these final hours,” he said.
“We have certainly been taking what I have called a ruthlessly pragmatic approach.”
On agricultural products, food and drink, Mr Thomas-Symonds said supermarkets were crying out for a deal because the status quo “isn’t working”, with “lorries stuck for 16 hours and food rotting” and producers and farmers unable to export goods because of the amount of “red tape”.
Asked how much people could expect to save on shopping as a result of the deal the government was hoping to negotiate, the minister was unable to give a figure.
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On the issue of fishing, asked if a deal would mean allowing French boats into British waters, the minister said the Brexit deal which reduced EU fishing in UK waters by a quarter over five years comes to an end next year.
He said the objectives now included “an overall deal in the interest of our fishers, easier access to markets to sell our fish and looking after our oceans”.
Turning to borders, the minister was asked if people would be able to move through queues at airports faster.
Again, he could not give a definitive answer, but said it was “certainly something we have been pushing with the EU… we want British people who are going on holiday to be able to go and enjoy their holiday, and not be stuck in queues”.
PM opens door to EU youth mobility scheme
A deal granting the UK access to a major EU defence fund could be on the table, according to reports – and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has appeared to signal a youth mobility deal could be possible, telling The Times that while freedom of movement is a “red line”, youth mobility does not come under this.
The European Commission has proposed opening negotiations with the UK on an agreement to facilitate youth mobility between the EU and the UK. The scheme would allow both UK and EU citizens aged between 18 and 30 years old to stay for up to four years in a country of their choosing.
Earlier this month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Phillips a youth mobility scheme was not the approach the government wanted to take to bring net migration down.
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When this was put to him, Mr Thomas-Symonds insisted any deal on a youth mobility scheme with Europe will have to be “smart” and “controlled” and will be “consistent” with the government’s immigration policy.
Asked what the government had got in return for a youth mobility scheme – now there had been a change in approach – the minister said: “It is about an overall balanced package that works for Britain. The government is 100% behind the objective of getting net migration down.”
Phillips said more than a million young people came to the country between 2004 and 2015. “If there isn’t a cap – that’s what we are talking about,” he said.
The minister insisted such a scheme would be “controlled” – but refused to say whether there would be a cap.
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‘It’s going to be a bad deal’
Shadow cabinet office minister Alex Burghart told Phillips an uncapped youth mobility scheme with the EU would lead to “much higher immigration”, adding: “It sounds very much as though it’s going to be a bad deal.”
Asked if the Conservatives would scrap any EU deal, he said: “It depends what the deal is, Trevor. And we still, even at this late stage, we don’t know.
“The government can’t tell us whether everyone will be able to come. They can’t tell us how old the young person is. They can’t tell us what benefits they would get.
“So I think when people hear about a youth mobility scheme, they think about an 18-year-old coming over working at a bar. But actually we may well be looking at a scheme which allows 30-year-olds to come over and have access to the NHS on day one, to claim benefits on day one, to bring their extended families.”
He added: “So there are obviously very considerable disadvantages to the UK if this deal is done in the wrong way.”
Jose Manuel Barroso, former EU Commission president, told Phillips it “makes sense” for a stronger relationship to exist between the European Union and the UK, adding: “We are stronger together.”
He said he understood fishing and youth mobility are the key sticking points for a UK-EU deal.
“Frankly, what is at stake… is much more important than those specific issues,” he said.
Gary Lineker is to leave the BBC after this season’s final Match Of The Day and will no longer present its coverage of the World Cup, Sky News understands.
It comes after he “apologised unreservedly” for a social media repost featuring a rat – used in propaganda by Nazi Germany to dehumanise Jewish people – and said he would “never knowingly share anything antisemitic”.
Lineker’s last appearance on the BBC will be on 25 May, the final day of the season, with confirmation expected on Monday.
The former England star announced in November he would step down from Match Of The Day this year, but was set to return to front the World Cup in 2026, as well as FA Cup coverage.
Lineker, 64, said he was unaware the post he shared was antisemitic and it went against “everything I believe in”.
In response to the presenter resharing the post, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said his “continued association with the BBC is untenable”.
And when asked about Lineker last week, BBC director general Tim Davie said: “When someone makes a mistake, it costs the BBC reputationally.”
The presenter was temporarily suspended from the BBC in March 2023 after an impartiality row over comments he made criticising the then Conservative government’s asylum policy.
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Lineker has hosted Match Of The Day since 1999 and has been the BBC’s highest-paid on-air talent for seven consecutive years. He also has a successful podcast production company.
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Mark Chapman, Kelly Cates and Gabby Logan will take over the highlights show from next season.
When the trio take over as hosts, it will be the first time the role has been shared by three people.
Sky News has contacted the BBC for comment.
A teenager has been arrested after a 16-year-old boy died following reports of a “disturbance” at a beach in Ayrshire.
Kayden Moy was found seriously injured by officers at Irvine Beach at around 6.45pm on Saturday.
The teenager, from East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, was taken to hospital but died in the early hours.
Police Scotland said on Sunday evening that a 17-year-old boy had been arrested and enquires were continuing.
Officers believe the incident may have been filmed and have urged witnesses and anyone with information to come forward.
Kayden. Pic: Facebook
The incident happened at Irvine Beach in Ayrshire, Scotland. File pic: iStock
Detective Chief Inspector Campbell Jackson said: “An extensive investigation is under way to establish the full circumstances surrounding this death.
“Our officers are supporting the boy’s family at this very difficult and heartbreaking time.
“From our investigation so far, we know there were a number of people on the beach around the time of the disturbance.
“We believe several of them were filming at the time and may have footage of what happened.
“I would urge people to review the footage they have and contact police if they think the footage captured could be of significance to our investigation.”
This can be submitted anonymously, the force said.
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Superintendent Jim McMillan added: “We understand this death will be of great concern for the local community, but please be assured that we are doing everything we can to identify those involved.
“There will be additional patrols in the area as we carry out our enquiries and anyone with any concerns can approach these officers.”
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