Barclays urged to scrap plans to cut Somali lifeline

Aid agencies today called on Barclays Bank to scrap plans to sever money transfer accounts tomorrow that could deprive many thousands of poor families in Somalia of cash sent by loved ones from abroad.

Somalis living in the United Kingdom alone send over £100m a year to friends and families. Total global remittances to Somalia are approximately £860m ($1.3bn) a year which amounts to nearly a quarter of the country’s economy and dwarfs the level of humanitarian aid to the country.

The agencies, which include Oxfam, CARE and World Vision, said that Barclays needs to put on hold for a year its decision to close accounts. This will give time for governments and banks to agree appropriate regulations that keep open a financial lifeline to ordinary families while addressing money laundering activities of criminals and terrorists.

“World Vision staff have witnessed firsthand how reliant many Somalis are on the remittances they receive from their relatives abroad in order to put food on their tables, and feed their children. In developed countries, the ability to transfer money quickly and easily funds our lifestyles, not our lives. In Somalia, a better solution is needed to the money-laundering problem that that ensures that vital funds still flow to the people who need it most. It really is a matter of life and death,” said David Thomson, Head of Policy at World Vision UK


Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world and slowly recovering from a famine that struck two years ago. Nearly half the population live on less than $1 a day and more than two million people have had to flee their homes due to fighting and food shortages, living in camps or make shift shelters.

Though the total amount of money sent to Somalia is large, individual transfers are usually less than £200, and often as little as £25. With average incomes in Somalia under £200 a year this is a vital source of money. Families depend on the money for basic costs such as food, schooling and other essentials. Somalia banking system is weak and money transfer operators provide the services people in the UK would expect from a bank. 

A recent report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation shows that up to 40 per cent of families in the northern areas of Somaliland and Puntland receive some form of remittance, and that the money is integral to their survival.

Barclays is currently the only bank in the UK still providing the money transfer service to Somalia.

The agencies also called on the UK government to work with the banks and money transfer agencies to find a long term comprehensive solution. Failing to do so undermines the Government’s commitment to help efforts to build a stable Somalia.

“The Government’s policy on Somalia is in a muddle. It has shown a genuine commitment to help Somalia rebuild itself and move beyond its “failed state” label, but is not doing enough to address this failed state of anti-terror banking rules. Somalia will find it hard to work its way out of poverty and instability while its people are needlessly denied the financial support from their loved ones abroad,” said Mark Goldring, Chief Executive, Oxfam.