Singaporean Banking Group Abruptly Terminates Accounts of Several Iranians - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th June, 2019) United Overseas Bank (UOB), a Singaporean multinational banking organization, suddenly terminated the bank accounts of at least 11 Iranians without providing any explanation, local media reported on Wednesday.

"They told me that my account would be closed in a week, and all my savings were given to me as a cheque under my name. I tried to ask why, but no one could give me a reason," Roohid Novinrooz, an Iranian user experience designer who moved to Singapore last year, told the Straits Times newspaper.

Novinrooz insisted that he had no dealings with the Iranian government and that his account was used "only for personal matters."

According to the paper, UOB terminated the bank accounts of at least 10 other Iranians

A Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) spokesman told the paper that banks can not maintain accounts of those people who are designated by the United Nations.

However, neither Novinrooz nor other Iranian citizens whose bank accounts were terminated were on that list, the newspaper learned.

It is not yet clear if these account terminations are somehow linked to the United States' sanctions against Iran. Tensions have been running high between the two countries since May 2018, when US President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iranian nuclear deal. In less than a year the Trump administration reinstated wide-ranging sanctions against the Islamic Republic, targeting its financial, transport and military sectors, among others.