A major financial services company has banned hunts and shooting-related businesses from accepting card payments, categorising them as “restricted businesses”. The Telegraphhas the story.
Hunts have been banned from taking card payments by a major financial services firm in the latest example of de-banking.
SumUp, a card reader provider, has included “hunting clubs/activities” on its list of “restricted businesses” alongside “illegal or legally questionable businesses and products”, escort services and fortune tellers.
A number of hunts have had their machines switched off during fundraising events, potentially losing thousands of pounds, the Telegraph can reveal.
Companies linked to shooting are also targeted as “guns, firearms, airsoft guns, munitions sale and distribution” are on the blacklist.
Card readers are used to take payments at events and the move means the hunts are unable to accept credit or debit cards from their customers.
The restrictions have been described as a form of discrimination against rural communities who are “effectively treated as criminals” and have led to calls for an immediate investigation into the financial services industry.
It comes amid concerns about the extent of the banking scandal that first emerged when Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader, had his Coutts accounts closed because of his political views.
Greg Smith MP, who sits on the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Fair Business Banking, told the Telegraph: “The Farage case of political de-banking has only just blown the tip off the iceberg and it is now quite clear that there is widespread de-banking going on for perfect legitimate and legal activities, of which hunts are one.
“There needs to be a much wider interrogation into the entire bank and financial services system in the U.K. to make sure that people are not discriminating against businesses carrying out perfectly legitimate businesses.”
The Oakley Hunt was among those to discover an issue when its card machine was cut off half way through their point-to-point meeting in Northamptonshire in March. It is the biggest event in their calendar and the shutdown could have cost them thousands.
When the hunt questioned the decision, SumUp said “after a thorough review of your profile we will not be able to provide you with our services”.
It had been using the service for about a year, having registered as the hunt supporters club and passed the vetting procedures, the Telegraph understands.
The Oakley, which has since been provided with a card reader by their bank, later discovered that hunts were on SumUp’s restricted business list.
Polly Portwin, Director of the Campaign for Hunting at the Countryside Alliance, said that it was one of “a number of incidents where events organised by hunts – many of which were raising money for charitable causes – had their accounts suspended mid-way through fundraising, leaving organisers without any means to collect payment and therefore having an impact on the donations subsequently made to good causes”.
She added: “It is disgraceful that members of rural communities and those who take part in a lawful activity can be discriminated against in this way and effectively treated as criminals.”
Mr. Farage said that since launching his campaign to establish the extent of the “national scandal” of de-banking he had received a number of complaints about SumUp.
“These banks and financial services companies are completely out of control,” Mr. Farage told the Telegraph. “They are starting to dictate how we can spend our money and what we can do.
“This is a highly political industry which is now a great danger to society. This is happening right through our financial system, and we need to turn the tide.”
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