This story has been all over the news this morning in Canada and there is even a Facebook page now up.
Here is the Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/CondemnTDoniranians
This might be an opportunity for Brockers make allies among “other” groups of Canadians.
So if I understood this correctly TD has closed the accounts of Canadian citizens resident in Canada who happen to either have immigrant roots or dual citizenship with Iran? Besides sounding eerily familiar of course, it seems like we are quickly going down a slippery slope with this sort of blatant financial services discrimination.
Why can’t the banks just block the ability to send money to Iran to comply with these sanctions? In what way are they legally bound to overreact so aggressively. First “US persons” now “Iranian Persons”. Are “Eritrean persons” and (if Hollande goes ahead with his plans) “French persons” next? Disgraceful.
*not to bring things off-subject, but now we know what it must be like for the millions of Iranians in Iran, with a normal life, who live every day with sanctions imposed upon them in the name of punishing their political leaders.
Back to subject, the situation must really be terrible for the dual citizens. Wait til it happens to us for the actions of our home country.
Meanwhile…
US drone kills 8 suspected militants in Pakistan hideout
US Drone Kills Five ‘Suspects’ in Yemen
And you guys think you have problems with these guys.
@ConfederateH – Well, we don’t have that problem *yet* I guess. When the IRS starts buying up military drones to go along with their shotguns I guess it’ll be a problem. Give it 2 years?
Media coverage on this would be a great opportunity to bring up FATCA in some comments.
The US/EU position towards Iran is misled, and closing the bank accounts of innocent people won’t make things any better. At least we can rest assured that politicians often enjoy fighting for the wrong cause to the disadvantage of their voters. Canada would be much better off fighting for the right of its citizens to have Canadian bank accounts! The Iran-affair is a preschool kids “my daddy is better than your daddy” name-calling game. Instead of inventing a big fuss over nothing for all the wrong reasons, politicians simply need to accept the nations of Palestine and Israel while treating Iran and Israel equally under the same conditions. Until that happens, the kids in politics will continue trying to prove that their daddy is better than the other daddy, only to eventually discover that both are dads:
Netanyahu 1992: Iran will Have the Bomb by 1997
More info and I think a very telling statement:
Patrick Leblond, associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, said it is hard to say why TD has gone to the lengths it has. He said the account closures could simply be a result of TD’s lawyers’ interpretation of the changes to the sanctions. Leblond adds that it could also be a politically-motivated move relating to TD’s extensive involvement in the United States. The U.S. is thought to have been influential in the January expansion of the international sanctions against Iran, he said.
“We know that TD bank or TD Canada Trust is highly involved in the U.S. all along the east coast,” said Leblond. “We also know where the U.S. stands with Iran.”
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/responsible+Bank+closing+Iranian+Canadian+accounts+bankers+group+says/6896870/story.html#ixzz1zu2mGCHj
Jenny Lee of the Vancouver Sun is working this story from what I saw on Facebook. Is that someone that Arrow knows or has worked with. This might be a very good reporter’s name to keep in my mind for the future.
How exactly did TD identify Iranian-Canadians? Was it solely through financial transfers that were tracked? Or, are we looking at the some of the same privacy issues that have been raised many times at IBS in relation to FATCA?
@hazy2, great questions! To me it sounds as though TD is targeting customers who’ve had transactions with Iran, the majority of whom I would guess are Iranian, hence TD’s statement: “In no way is TD targeting the Iranian Canadian community”.
I’m not Iranian, but I imagine if I wired money to a bank account in Iran, TD would close my account too.
*All Canadians MUST withdraw their accounts with T D.
Start new accounts withBMO RBC and other banks
A
*Sue TD for illegal profiling and discrimination.
@ hazy2 & bubblebustin,
A lot of Iranian surnames are readily identifiable and clearly not Arabic. Kind of like racial-profiling, which people do all the time and then deny. I also wonder-we’ve had sanctions against many countries over the years and yet, this is the first time I have ever heard of anything like this, other than the jihad against expats in the EU banks.
I find TD’s statement that “in no way are we targeting the Iranian Canadian community” to likely be a crock of s**t.
*Shame on canadian government. Shame on TD directors. Tell us who is ruling our country, Obama or US congress. Are we really independent. Who will be the next, Chinese, Koreans or russians. They put the whole canada in a dangerous situation. This stupid policy will impose the affected people to start criminal and illegal actions to survive. STOP IT
*Other banks? I think not. Try Credit Unions!