Congratualtions to Shakari on getting his letter published by the Hunt Network:

http://huntnetwork.net/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=545

As more corporations incorporate what they deem to be politically correct policies into their business practices, we might want to take notice and exercise our right to take our business elsewhere.

Jim,

Thanks for those kind words......... I intend to make it one of my life missions to make life as uncomfortable as possible for them at every opportunity.

I'm glad to say that I've had a considerable number of messages of support and promises of boycott etc.

Very interesting. Are there any US companies associated with Barclays that I should avoid?

They do business worldwide, but I'm not aware of any particular US companies that are associated with them. - However, a lot of bank transfers go through Barclays somewhere along the line....... so you can always tell your bank that when you send money somewhere, you don't want it to go through Baclays.

It is a disgrace they are fucking idiots.
in SA half the hunters bank with absa i wonder when they they will start with their nonsens here luckily i have moved my account with them about 2years ago Bloody wankers

375 fanatic,

By ABSA you of course mean "ABSA, a division of the Barclays Group"

See their homepage:
http://www.absa.co.za/absacoza/

Shakari, I sympathise deeply with your crusade, but unfortunately when it comes to banks one is no better than another, especially here in SA where the bastards are a cartel. The scariest thing is the higher up the pecking order you go, the more cussedly imbesilic are the people you deal with.

Just look at how their recent greed has lead to the current credit crisis facing the world, and yet mostly they still survive, bailed out by governments using our tax money.

Reminds me of an old joke that went something like this:
Bananas come in Bunches, Bank managers come in Wunches....
Can't quite remember the detail, but in the end it inferred a "Wunch of Wankers"

Stephen,

I agree that none of them are very good, and with this current crisis, the one thing you can rely on is that the bankers themselves won't go short........... What makes Barclays & ABSA worse than the others (other than my gripe with Barclays) is that they both support the Mugabe regime the way they do!

As you say, a wunch of bankers....... or something.

I did a little more digging, and it would appear that Barclays is knee deep in financing Mugabe's antics in Zim. The extent of Barclays "involvement" with Mugabe is more than on the surface.

The following article is a great summary of some of the high points:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/jan/28/accounts.Zimbabwenews

Perhaps the most disturbing revelation, at least to me, was this disclosure:

quote:

One of the most controversial of Barclays' Zimbabwe loans is the £30m it provides to a state-sponsored agricultural 'facility' aiming to sustain land reforms that saw Mugabe seize white-owned farmland and drive more than 100,000 black workers from their homes. The government has expelled more than a million opposition supporters from Harare and Bulawayo, dumping them in the countryside.

iShares, a type of exchange traded fund (ETF)is a Barclay's product. These are fairly widely held investments within the U.S.

As Mugabe takes the land without paying for it, presumably that UK£30M a year Barclays give to aid this programmes goes straight into his swiss bank account!

One has to question the prudence in making a loan of that magnitude to an insolvent entity where the inflation rate associated with the repayment currency is running at 100,000% per year.

I would dare say that Barclays would not make any other loan to any borrower with such a credit history. It causes one to opine whether Barclays ever expected repayment on the "loan".

Protection money.....

African Hunting Info just picked up the letter.

http://africanhuntinginfo.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=749

Great news! - the more people that become aware of their behaviour the better - I've already had a lot of support from hunters worldwide in this and I'm sure that support will continue!

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
Protection money.....

In the US, making a loan to a person of influence with no expectation of repayment can lead to a charge of "money laundering". The underlying motivation for such a transaction often times also results in a separate violation of law. I am certainly not accusing Barclays of any such acts, but the reported facts certainly lead to questions regarding its business dealings in Zim.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Manion:
In the US, making a loan to a person of influence with no expectation of repayment can lead to a charge of "money laundering".

Damn, I've been loaning money to my daughter with no expectation of repayment for years..... and she has a lot of influence with my ex-wife!........ looks like I'd better run for the hills.

More seriously, Sky news last week reported that an English MP (I think Norman Lamb) had asked questions in the House of Commons about Barclays supporting the Mugabe regime and called for an investigation into whether they were breaching trade restrictions or not........ Good for him!

Found it. It was Norman Lamb MP and here's the link.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2008-04-29a.1.0&m=1736#g21.0

Steve,

Have you thought about bring this to the attention of BASC here in the UK?

I'm betting that some of your former clients from the UK would probably be members, and if they contacted BASC concerning unfair treatment ect, you may well get some more negative publicity for Barclays..

Regards

Pete

Pete,

I already have done....... I sent it a week or two ago!

I have copied Steve's letter to my account executive at Barclays.

He said he has no idea why this is happening, and will try find out and let me know.

His first question was "have you got a hunting company that got refused an account?"

I told him, no I do not have a hunting company. And I would not wish to continue to do business with a bank that has such a negative attitude towards hunting.

I will let you know what I hear.

Saeed,

That's the best news I've heard all week. Thank you!!!!!!

Saeed,

Outstanding! Based on my own experience with Barclays, I can vouch for Steve's version of events.

One of their "policy" reasons they gave was the necessity to deal with large cash transfers. They claimed that, in part, the anti-terror legislation to which they were subject made maintaining such accounts impractical. If that is true, then they have obviously likewise cut off their dealings with every automobile dealer, every retail seller of large consumer items, every airline and travel agency, and any other business who deals with large cash transactions. If they did this, however, they would effectively be limiting their future business to consumer accounts.

When pressed for evidence of their policy, they went silent. Not even the courtesy of a response, even to someone like Steve with a pristine banking record with them for decades.

By this time, Barclays has successfully driven away those hunting related businesses they targeted for elimination. By their calculations, I doubt very much that they believed their actions would impact their other businesses. Hopefully, by showing them that our community is diverse and far reaching, someone at Barclays just might get the message.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have copied Steve's letter to my account executive at Barclays.

He said he has no idea why this is happening, and will try find out and let me know.

His first question was "have you got a huting compnay that got refused an account?"

I told him, no I do not have a hunting company. And I would not wish to continue to do business with a bank that has such a negative attitude towards hunting.

I will let you know what I hear.

quote:

Originally posted by Lhook7:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have copied Steve's letter to my account executive at Barclays.

He said he has no idea why this is happening, and will try find out and let me know.

His first question was "have you got a huting compnay that got refused an account?"

I told him, no I do not have a hunting company. And I would not wish to continue to do business with a bank that has such a negative attitude towards hunting.

I will let you know what I hear.

XX2-- this will be interesting --
G

Saeed,
Another for your approach on this matter. We must all stick together, or surely, we will all hang together.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Manion:
Hopefully, by showing them that our community is diverse and far reaching, someone at Barclays just might get the message.

Oh how nice it would be to be able to name & shame the originator(s) of this kind of isanely stupid policy. People make up this sort of crap, not computers but just try to find the author & you run into a wall of corporate obstruction, be it from banks or public service.
Well done to those who have the clout put pressure on Barclays & do so.
Steve.

WTG, Saeed!

Well done to all

Banks in South Africa = Legal Organized crime syndicates

Cheers

I just noticed that my Frontier Airline Master Card has the name Barclay card services on it ---- is there a conection there??

Almost certainly part of Barclaycard USA, which is indeed part of the group........

Did a little digging as to the relationship -- what I found is per the attached:

"Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, the U.S. credit card operations of Barclays PLC, Barclays Bank Delaware, is one of the fastest growing credit card issuers in the United States. Barclays has more than 40 existing card partnerships with some of the most successful travel, entertainment, automotive, educational and financial institutions in the United States including US Airways, AirTran Airways, Frontier Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Carnival Cruise Lines, TiVo, Gulf Oil, Harvard Alumni Association, and UBS among others.

Barclays PLC is one of the world's largest global financial services providers primarily offering banking, investment banking and investment management services. Present in over 60 countries, Barclays is proud to serve over 20 million customers and employ more than 110,500 people worldwide. Barclaycard is one of the largest global credit card companies with 14.9 million credit card customers around the world. For more information about Barclays PLC and its six major divisions, please visit www.barclays.com"

Thus if you have one of the credit cards listed above -- you are supporting Barclays -- I have just sent Frontier Airlines a letter as to my discontent and will be canceling my MC account.

Glad to hear it - the more this happens, the more likely we hunters are to get companies to accept that there's nothing wrong with our sport and they have no right to approve or disapprove of it anyway.

Shakari and Saeed, congrats on that one It is important that 'political correctness' does not take over everything, good on you for fighting back!

I got an answer from Brclays:

"...Barclays neither supports nor opposes hunting although we appreciate that it is an emotive issue where widely differing views are held. Hunting remains a lawful activity and a matter of personal preference for each individual..."

They also said they cannot comment on their relationship with any individual person or company.

Their CEO is visiting Dubai, and has asked if we can have a meeting. Sadly, I am out of the country during his visit, so won't be able to see him.

I have been dealing with Barclays since the 80's, and have had nothing but exceptional service from them.

Saeed,

Thanks very much for the update. Their reply sounds to me like a hurriedly drawn up face saving statement that just dodges the issue. - However, it doesn't alter what they did to me or why they did it. - (More importantly), Nor does it address their issue of the way they apparently sponsor the Mugabe regime. - The more I search the net on the that issue, they more evidence becomes apparent.

I leave it to each individual to decide whether they wish to continue to do business with Barclays or not, but knowing what I now know, I personally wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. Which is a shame really, as like you, I never had a single problem with them before this and was always delighted with their service.

I have no doubt in my mind that your comments most certainly put a shot across their bows and that, because of your comments, they'll at least be a lot more circumspect in their attitude to other hunters in the future. At the very least, you've probably ensured they won't adopt the same attitude to hunters in the future - so we all have to thank you for that!

Whether it'll alter their business with Mugabe is another matter............

Saeed

While I understand Barclays not wanting to talk about an individual customer's details, perhaps they would be willing to share a copy of the mystery "policy" with you.

FWIW

The phrases they kept using were:-

'As I already mentioned in my previous e-mail, the reason for decline is the nature of your business which doesn't fit the criteria of Barclays Wealth Business Acceptance Policy'. - Note the phrase 'nature of your business'

I asked them many times both by e-mail and telephone whether it was because the nature of my business is hunting.......... and all they would do, is repeat the same phrase.

And when I (repeatedly) asked for a copy of the aforementioned policy, their reply was:-

Unfortunately, we cannot disclose the criteria of our Business Acceptance Policy, as there would be an open possibility of manipulation.

so the policy that the nature of my business does not fit in with, is also kept secret. Surely it should be in their own interest to publish that policy if they had nothing to hide. After all, if they did publish it, anyone considering opening an account with them could check their criteria beforehand to save wasting their and the banks time and money...........

The staff member concerned in all this communication was extremely unhelpful and consistantly refused to give me information, wouldn't even answer any of my queries about whether this would affect my credit rating in any way and even when her boss told her to give me information, she repeatedly failed to do so. Her name and title is:-

Martina Bakosova
Executive
Barclays Wealth Intermediaries and Corporates
Isle of Man

Quite honestly, I fail to see how those statements can tie in with the statement that they gave to Saeed. - They're obviously trying to duck the issue........... for the obvious reason. - I'd bet that they almost had a blue fit when they found out about Saeed saying he 'would not wish to continue to do business with a bank that has such a negative attitude towards hunting'. - Damn, I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall at that moment!

On the one hand, they say that the nature of my business (which is hunting) doesn't fit in with their policy and on the other, they say that "...Barclays neither supports nor opposes hunting although we appreciate that it is an emotive issue where widely differing views are held. Hunting remains a lawful activity and a matter of personal preference for each individual..." - If that's the case, why did they dump me like a sack of coal after 30 odd years of doing business with me?

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
The phrases they kept using were:-

'As I already mentioned in my previous e-mail, the reason for decline is the nature of your business which doesn't fit the criteria of Barclays Wealth Business Acceptance Policy'. - Note the phrase 'nature of your business' I asked them many times both by e-mail and telephone whether it was because the nature of my business is hunting.......... and all they would do, is repeat the same phrase.

And when I (repeatedly) asked for a copy of the aforementioned policy, their reply was:-

Unfortunately, we cannot disclose the criteria of our Business Acceptance Policy, as there would be an open possibility of manipulation.

so the policy that the nature of my business does not fit in with, is also kept secret.

This sounds like something out of a novel by Kafka!
- mike

The more I look, the more I find. UK£750M in this one......

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2848046.ece

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Their CEO is visiting Dubai, and has asked if we can have a meeting.

Looks like Saeed hit a nerve!

It would be interesting to have a list of anti hunters/shooters/guns owners companies and corporations..