Hawala connection severed for Minnesota Somalis
Somali people in Minnesota who send money to east Africa are concerned that the method they use to transfer funds will soon shut down. If Franklin Bank in the Twin Cities follows through on a plan to stop working with Somali wire transfer services called “hawalas”, Minnesota Somalis will have to find another way to offer financial support to family and friends in a country that is experiencing a crushing famine.
The Franklin Bank is the only local bank that is currently willing to make these transactions, but bank officials recently said they are uneasy with the bank’s level of vulnerability, and have decided to stop offering the service on December 14th.
Hashi Shafi is the director of the Somali Action Alliance. He’s been talking with officials of the Franklin Bank and people in the Somali community, trying to find a solution to this problem. He talked with KFAI’s Dale Connelly about the importance of having a bank involved when sending money to a country that has had no functioning government for the past 20 years. [Audio below]
Hawala Connection Severed
The Twin Cities Daily Planet is an edited news source produced by professional journalists working in collaboration with citizen journalists from the local community. We publish original reported news articles, articles republished from media partners, and some content (Free Speech Zone articles, reader-submitted blog entries, comments) that is moderated but not edited. Click here for a complete description of our editorial policies. Support people-powered non-profit journalism! Volunteer, contribute news, or become a member to keep the Daily Planet in orbit. |
Eric is a freelance journalist living in Minneapolis.
We're people-powered journalism! Click on story links (below) to see more story information, and then email editor@tcdailyplanet.net if you want to report.
• 
Comments
Post new comment