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Chinese customers of Spanish bank BBVA protest outside its headquarters in Madrid on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Furious Chinese condemn ‘racist’ Spanish bank BBVA, saying it locked them out of accounts in money laundering crackdown

  • Hundreds of Chinese customers of BBVA rallied in Madrid, saying they had been blocked from accessing their accounts but had done nothing wrong
  • Spain strengthened money laundering regulations last year, requiring banks to obtain a series of personal details and background information from clients

Hundreds of Chinese citizens waving Spanish and Chinese flags took to the streets of Madrid on Friday to protest against bank BBVA, saying it had blocked their accounts and accusing the bank of racism.

The protesters said they had been told their bank accounts had been blocked because of money laundering regulations but insisted they had done nothing wrong.

A man protests holding a sign reading in Spanish “BBVA racist” in Madrid on Friday. Photo: AP

“We gathered here to demand equality because we are ordinary citizens. I work in a consultancy office and I don’t have suspicious transactions,” said Yunajie Chen, a Chinese accountant who arrived in Spain as a child and has been a BBVA client for more than six years.

Protesters carried signs accusing the bank of racism.

Spanish police search branch of China’s ICBC bank in money laundering probe

BBVA, Spain’s second largest bank, declined to comment on any of these cases and said it did not discriminate against any clients based on nationality and treated all customers with the same criteria.

Spain strengthened its money laundering regulations last year. The law requires clients to give the bank a series of personal details and background information, regardless of their nationality, said a spokesman for the Spanish banking association AEB, Jose Luis Martinez Campuzano.

Chinese protesters waving Chinese and Spanish flags block Castellana Avenue near a BBVA bank building in Madrid on Friday. Photo: AP

However Dawein Ding, vice-president of a Chinese radio station in Madrid who also works for the Chinese Association in Spain (ACHE), said banks such as BBVA were demanding far more details and making the process more complicated for Chinese citizens than for Spanish nationals.

“For a Spaniard to open a bank account they just have to show their identification card, whereas Chinese citizens have to deliver much more paperwork such as evidence of their work life like payslips and contracts,” Ding said.

Spanish police raid Chinese money-laundering mob

BBVA declined to comment on the accusation.

The protesters, gathered by a major BBVA branch, said increased scrutiny effectively cut them off from paying their utility bills or tuition costs for their children.

A man shouts slogans during a protest outside BBVA bank in Madrid on Friday. Photo: AFP

“What BBVA and some other banks have done has damaged the legal interests of thousands of ordinary Chinese, the lives of many people … have been affected,” said Feng Mao, the head of the ACHE association.

ACHE says between 4,000 and 5,000 people have seen their accounts blocked by BBVA.

Both the Economy Ministry and the Bank of Spain declined to comment on Friday when asked about the complaints of Chinese citizens.

A Reuters investigation last year detailed the alleged money laundering scheme involving ICBC after the arrest of seven ICBC executives in Madrid in February 2016.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Chinese protest over blocked bank accounts
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