Jama Alimad, seen Dec. 16, uses hawalas at the 33rd Avenue Meat & Grocery to transfer money
to his 95-year-old mother in Somalia. / Jason Wachter, [email protected]
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
“Without that,” Alimad said, “she can’t survive.”
Alimad and other Somali-Americans in St. Cloud fear their lifelines to loved ones in East Africa — particularly Somalia, a nation ravaged by war and famine — could be severed if a Minnesota bank that handles most of their money transfers cuts off that service.
Twin Cities-based Sunrise Community Banks plans to close accounts with several Somali money transfer businesses after a recent criminal trial convinced bank officials they could be at risk of violating government rules intended to clamp down on terrorism financing.
Because Somalia has no financial institutions, money-transfer systems called hawalas are used in lieu of banks. But the hawalas must work with banks to complete international money transfers.
Many large banks have stopped serving hawalas in recent years, saying they can’t comply with new government rules designed to halt terrorism financing.
Since then Sunrise, a group of banks that includes Franklin Bank, has stepped into the void to handle most transfers from Somali-Americans back to East Africa. But now, Sunrise officials say the recent trial of two Minnesota women helped them determine their bank also could be at risk of violating government rules. The trial convicted the women of conspiracy to support al-Shabab, a Somali terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida, by using hawalas to send money to the group.
After the trial, the bank initially said it would close accounts with several Somali money-transfer businesses earlier this month. After U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison and others protested, the bank pushed the cutoff date back to Dec. 30.
Sunrise spokeswoman Nikki Foster told the Times that deadline remained in place as of Monday.
“We continue to work with the community ... to see if we can’t find a solution to provide an extension of time,” Foster said.
Meanwhile, some Somali-Americans in St. Cloud say a possible disruption of money transfers to their loved ones in Africa is their — and their community’s — biggest concern right now.Mohamed Yusuf is an agent for the money-transfer agency Kaah Express, which has a branch inside St. Cloud’s Mogadishu Meat & Grocery.Kaah Express is one of many Minnesota-based money-transfer agencies that work with Sunrise, and would have its transfers disrupted if the bank discontinued service, according to Kaah compliance officer Aden Hassan.
Yusuf said through a translator that many of his customers are fretting about that possibility.
“A lot of people are very worried about what to do at the end of the month,” Yusuf said.
Alimad acknowledges concern about money being funneled to terrorist groups, while emphasizing most just want to send money to loved ones.
Alimad says he could accept tighter U.S. government monitoring of people in the U.S. sending money to East Africa in exchange for assurances that the flow of money to peaceful individuals could continue.
Some area Somalis, such as Mohamed Qolab of St. Cloud, are bristling at the recent turn of events.
Qolab’s story is similar to Alimad’s. Qolab said through a translator that he works for a local Gold’n’Plump facility and sends part of his paychecks back to his 85-year-old father in Mogadishu.
If he couldn’t make those money transfers, Qolab says he would fear for his father’s welfare.
“He will die of hunger,” Qolab said, “and maybe I might die because of anger.”