Banks turn away gundealer

Shooting Times understands that several high-street banks are refusing to do business with legitimate gundealers and gamefarmers.

Archie Bell, a gundealer from London, was asked to close his accounts with HSBC, after the bank claimed that his business was a “financial risk” despite his credit rating being good.

A member of staff at Mr Bell’s branch of HSBC, in Fulham, London, said that his gundealing business was not considered “a moral company” and that it was “in the same league as pornography”.

HSBC apologised, but asked Mr Bell to close his accounts with them. Several other banks then refused Mr Bell’s business, including NatWest and Metro.

A spokesperson from HSBC said: “We cannot go into the details of individual customers, however it is not HSBC’s policy to refuse financial services to licensed gundealerships. We apologise for any misunderstanding in the conversations Mr Bell had with our branch staff.”

John Batley, of the Gun Trade Association (GTA), commented: “The GTA has been aware of this issue for some while and is actively dealing with various of the major, and other, banks on behalf of our members.”

The rest of this article appears in the 23rd January issue of Shooting Times.

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