Why a store in Geneva ended up in a banking dispute because of its name Swiss will have to dig deep into their pockets for electricity and gas in 2023

It was February 2020 when suddenly there was no more money in the account of an oriental carpet company from Geneva. The company with an Iranian name, which cannot be mentioned here, was a client of the Geneva Cantonal Bank (BCG) at the time.

“I called the company that arranges payments with bank cards on our behalf,” says the co-owner of the family business. Her father came to Switzerland from Iran in the 1970s and was later granted Swiss citizenship. “Where has the money from the sale of the carpets gone?” the daughter asked the credit card company. Frozen by a partner bank, it turns out. At the moment it is still unclear why.

The merchant family hires a lawyer. In April, he managed to transfer the frozen amounts, “about 20,000 francs”, from the bank that had withheld them to the Cantonal Bank of Geneva.

Meanwhile, the family and the lawyer ask the Swiss Ombudsman for Banks to mediate, write to the Economic Secretariat responsible for Switzerland’s foreign trade and ask for an explanation from the responsible bank. The bank responded in a letter dated March 18.

The bank is clearly so uncomfortable with the Iranian name of the Geneva carpet store that it wants to erase it completely from its books.

This is a slap in the face to the carpet store owners. The family is forced to use a different credit card company unaffiliated with the bank responsible for their problems.

She changes the name of the account holder at BCG and also the name of the company, which becomes a limited liability company. The IBAN will remain unchanged for the time being. However, the bank will then block all transactions again.

“Some were offended”

Also, insurance, account-to-account payments, the second pillar of some store associates — that is, anything that bears the name of the store and somehow goes through this important bank — needs to be adjusted. Customers who have an account with the bank are asked to pay for their purchases in the store in cash. “Some were offended,” report the owners of the carpet store.

Three years later, the incident is still present. The shopkeepers, who have no connection with the Islamist regime in Iran, feel discriminated against just because of their name.

The shop owner’s sister, who has the same last name and also holds a Swiss passport, has had similar problems at another bank.

Perhaps it is not even about the trade of Iranian carpets – one of the countries of origin of the goods offered by the Geneva store.

That of Watson The State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) that was contacted states that the carpet trade with Iran is not covered by the sanctions. However, such purchases are usually not settled with Iran, but with resellers in third countries, such as Turkey. A large Swiss furniture store sells carpets made in Iran in this way.

one of the Watson An employee of the contacted bank, who had come into conflict with the carpet trade in Geneva, confirmed this assessment without going into the details of the case.

One possible explanation for the dealer family’s banking difficulties: “The name of the company could have an unwanted namesake,” according to an insider. “In any case, the banks are private players who can trade freely with whomever they want,” emphasizes an economist.

How many other Iranian-sounding names in Switzerland have been removed from the couch tables?