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.
“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.
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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.
