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Racial Discrimination at one of the local banks in HK

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  1. #11

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    I would have asked WHY they have that policy. If the answer is, as for US nationals, because of the huge paperwork burden imposed by the US government then that is fair enough. If the answer is lots of embarrassed shuffling (i.e. no reason) then you can say "you don't appear to have a reason, so please open my account". And make enough of a fuss that they just get on with it to get rid of you.

    Philippines by any chance?


  2. #12

    there are lots of different reasons for the bank to refuse his opening of an account.
    he is not being specific and using the race card without actually having been refused based on race.
    if he's black, white, brown and got refused explicitly, thats racial (which is not the case), and its nationality based refusal - which could be for many reasons such as money laundering issues (Liberia, Sierra Leone and a lot of African and South American countries like Venezuela, Cuba to name a couple are under the microscope from HKMA) or tax issues (US) or any number of other issues.

    Last edited by amitsingh_hk; 21-11-2012 at 05:33 PM.

  3. #13

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    Philippines or Indonesia I bet


  4. #14

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    i think banks are like other businesses, they have the rights not to serve anyone they dont want to serve.


  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by amitsingh_hk:
    there are lots of different reasons for the bank to refuse his opening of an account.
    he is not being specific and using the race card without actually having been refused based on race.
    iwhich could be for many reasons such as money laundering issues (Liberia and a lot of West African and South American countries are under the microscope from HKMA) or tax issues (US) or any number of other issues.
    yeh true but why dint they say ok lets talk to the manager? cos that seemed like an option?

  6. #16

    what is the manager gonna do if its bank policy or directive from HKMA.......?


  7. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by MovingIn07:
    I would have asked WHY they have that policy. If the answer is, as for US nationals, because of the huge paperwork burden imposed by the US government then that is fair enough. If the answer is lots of embarrassed shuffling (i.e. no reason) then you can say "you don't appear to have a reason, so please open my account". And make enough of a fuss that they just get on with it to get rid of you.

    Philippines by any chance?
    Yes, she's from the Philippines. I wasn't there when this happened but it almost seemed as though the person wanted to quickly brush her off instead of explaining why it was their policy to refuse service to Filipinos.

  8. #18

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    Is she from one of the sanctioned countries? if yes, no surprise that the bank would reject her to avoid from further trouble in the future. if she is working, she can open an account if she provides a letter from her employer to support the account opening. alternately if you have existing account in the bank, you can first open a joint account with her. then she can open a sole account after few days.


  9. #19

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    Quote Originally Posted by avengedsevenfold:
    Yes, she's from the Philippines. I wasn't there when this happened but it almost seemed as though the person wanted to quickly brush her off instead of explaining why it was their policy to refuse service to Filipinos.
    At a guess, the issue is that many Filipinos in HK are DH's and there can be some unfortunate non payment of loans by some, which tar the reputation of the others. If your friend is not a DH, she should probably have just said so and it might have made all the difference! Particularly if she is a professional, just saying so and saying something about income might have (in a bank) made all the difference! Some Filipinos are pretty rich and the bank would be daft to refuse custom to them.

  10. #20

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    I know many Filipinos with accounts at HSBC, so maybe just go open an account there?


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