“This is a very exciting day, not only for my business and me, but also for our entire community,” said Mohamed Nor of Dahab-Shil, a money services business specializing in the transfer of money for immigrant communities and non-governmental aid organizations. “I would like to thank U.S. Bank for continuing this conversation over the last year and for taking this important step today. Somali Minnesotans and our families look forward to beginning to restore the lifeline.”
On Tuesday officials for U.S. Bank announced they would restore a much-needed service to the more than 32,000 citizens of Somali ancestry living in Minnesota who for the past 16 months have been unable to send money home to loved ones through money transfers.
All banks in Minnesota ended money transfers to Somalia in late 2011 after two Somali women from Rochester, Minn., were convicted of aiding the terrorist group al-Shabab with money wire transfers. Bank officials scrambled to cancel cash transfers to Somalia, fearful that their banks would be indicted on terrorism charges.
“It has essentially become an epidemic: banks avoiding us, banks terminating us,” said Aden Hassan, a Somali American, after the last money transfer business ended services to the eastern African state in December 2011.
Each year, Somalis living in the diaspora send an estimated $1.6 billion to family and friends, an essential lifeline for the 10 million Somali citizens recovering from decades of civil war, famine and terrorism. Now after more than 16 months, Somalis again have an opportunity to improve the quality of life for their loved ones.
U.S. Bank did not respond to Mint Press requests for comment but will reportedly work with money services business Dahab-Shil, which specializes in remittance payments.
“I applaud U.S. Bank for taking this important step,” said Somali community leader Sadik Warfa. “For the last year, we have asked them to not only listen to us, but to take action.”
Tuesday’s decision did not come without a sustained lobbying effort by community leaders, activists, labor unions and faith-based groups. “For 16 months the Somali community in Minnesota, joined by Minnesotans for a Fair Economy and its partners, have taken to the streets, stood on the steps of our State Capitol and joined together in prayer in places of worship throughout the state,” said Abdirahman Muse, a union organizer with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Muse, an activist in the Somali community, helped organize many of the past year’s demonstrations demanding bank officials restore money transfers. “Today’s announcement is the result of that tireless dedication to finding a solution. We now call on other banks, including Wells Fargo, to join U.S. Bank in working with us,” Muse said.
Thousands of Somalis continue to bank with Wells Fargo, the largest bank in Minnesota and the fourth largest in the U.S. Sustained protests against Wells Fargo have not yielded a change in the bank’s policies.