The head of the most important UK banks lobby group has written a letter to Ed Balls, economic secretary to the Treasury, outlining his concern that the recent sanctions taken by the US authorities against Iranian banking interests could damage London’s credibility as an international financial centre.
Ian Mullen, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), a leading trade body with about 220 members, says that the sanctions imposed by the US Treasury on Iran’s Bank Saderat, including its UK subsidiary, following accusations that it is financing terrorist groups, and its complementary warnings to international banks to be “very careful” in their dealings with all Iranian institutions, is damaging to the City. It “seems to strike at the heart of what London offers as a place to do business,” the letter says.
Mullen describes the City of London as “a...
