Oxfam official says "three million Somalis risk going hungry this year" after banks stop money transfers due to terrorism financing risks
"Somalia faces crisis as remittances cut"
Somalia could face a financial crisis with close to $1.3 billion in annual remittances as the last major US bank stopped money transfers to the country and to the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya. A fortnight ago, California-based Merchants Bank closed all its accounts with Somali MTO’s; Australia’s Westpac Bank has also announced that it will close Somali remittance accounts soon. The move follows a decision in 2013 by Barclays, one of the biggest banks in the UK, to cut its ties with a company in Somalia that had been a recipient of large amounts of remittances...Oxfam Somalia Country Director Enzo Vecchio said..."three million Somalis risk going hungry this year, families will not be able to afford health care, and a generation of children could be kept out of school”...