HN Explorer

Bank Rejected My Wire Transfer Due to My Birthplace, Iran

5 points by CountryOfOrigin ↗ HN
Earlier today I attempted to pay my developer (less than $5,000 USD) via wire transfer from my bank in the Philippines to their account in the US, and just this evening I received this SMS from my bank:

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Hi Mr. *, Good Afternoon! This is * from **. We regret to inform you that the telegraphic transfer that was processed earlier was returned due to declared Birthplace. Funds were credited back to your USD account.

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For context, I moved to Canada when I was three years old and this is the first time I’ve run into this issue.

I've very worried right now, because I don't know what I could possibly do if these kinds of restrictions start to escalate. I can't change my country of birth. The whole thing is humiliating and seems it belongs to a bygone era.

EDIT:

I asked my bank representative if the receiver's bank rejected my transfer, and their response was:

"No sir, unfortunately it didn't reach the [US bank name] yet since we cannot proceed with the transfer outside the Philippines due to the aforementioned reason."

I've done numerous international wire transfers with my bank, and this is the first time one has been blocked due to my Birthplace.

3 comments

[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 20.1 ms ] thread
illuminant
Sad times. I am a citizen of the world and I have seen ignorant American peoples and policies turn on anyone associated with their latest perceived enemy, no matter how inappropriate or undeserving.

You're right, there is a psychological culture war upon us that is taking us backwards. I am sharply reminded of this through the diverse social optimism in now aging movies (most things from the 70s - early 00s were a progressive latter up.)

We haven't had a political leader who genuinely got along with the world community since Clinton. American rhetoric makes them xenophobic.

These challenges are not yours alone and forebode a pattern of careless disconnect, threatening unmitigated personal disaster.

CountryOfOrigin
Update:

So I went to my main branch yesterday, the one that where I've done most of my transactions, and I told them the situation with the wire transfer that was rejected, and then they checked and then they got back to me and said that they can't do any wire transfers outside of Philippines for me because they have a new regulation saying that they can't deal with Iranian persons. And so I said this is totally unfair and discriminatory as I'm a Canadian and I was just born in Iran before leaving when I was three. The front desk clerk said, well, there's nothing they could do because it was the BSP, which is the bank regulator of Philippines, that instituted this regulation. And then I asked her show me the regulation, and she said she would get back to me after talking to the Treasury Department, but that she couldn't give me an answer right away.

I told her I would wait as this was a critical situation and I needed it resolved today. I also asked to speak to her manager, and after an hour I got to speak to the assistant manager.

I told them I am 100% sure that the BSP is not requiring them to stop dealing with people whose birthplace is Iran. They may have said you can't deal with Iranian persons, but having merely an Iranian birthplace is not going to be defined as an Iranian person. Moreover, the BSP guidelines require them to give clients fair treatment and consumer protection. I showed him a picture of my newly completed office. I said, look, I just finished constructing this office. What am I supposed to do if I can't do international wire transfers? And then I showed him a video of my two year old dancing. I said, look, I'm established here, I have family here, and now you're telling me I can't do business here. I was pulling out all the stops because this is a very, very critical situation, basically cutting me off from any meaningful banking based on some absurd interpretation of the regulations. So I told him, "I know you guys have to do your due diligence. And if you wanted to do due diligence and check my transaction, that's absolutely fine. I can give you as many documents as you need. But I'm 100% sure that the BSP is not requiring you to stop dealing with people whose birthplace is Iran. It might say you can't deal with Iranian persons, which I am not. And what's happening here is the compliance division is overreacting." Anyway, he said he'll do his best. I came back later in the day and they said they're going to treat me as a Canadian person from now on. And they processed my transactions. Now I'm just hoping everything stays okay and I don't get any more nasty surprises.

patrakov
Just in case, you could have also mentioned that the Philippines has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966). Article 26 prohibits discrimination on any ground, including national origin.