Qatar Row: Several UK Banks Suspend Qatari Riyals

Local Editor

Given the diplomatic crisis surrounding the tiny Gulf kingdom, several British banks said Friday they had stopped dealing in Qatari riyals.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and travel links with Qatar on June 5, which have ignited a regional crisis between the US allies.

Qatar's defense minister held talks with his Turkish counterpart Friday as the Gulf nation's feud deepened amid a sweeping list of demands to Doha, including the closure of a Turkish military base there.

Defense Ministry officials said Qatar's Khalid al-Attiyah met with Turkey's Fikri Isik in Ankara, but did not provide details.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, discussed ways to resolve the dispute in a telephone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the White House said.

The White House said Trump and Erdogan spoke about ways to overcome the crisis "while ensuring that all countries work to stop terrorist funding and to combat extremist ideology."

Other demands presented to Qatar by the four nations - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain - include shuttering the Al-Jazeera news network and curbing diplomatic ties to Iran.

The UN voiced outrage Friday at the demand that Al-Jazeera be shut down, describing it as "an unacceptable attack on the right to freedom of expression and opinion."

Offshore trade of the riyal has become increasingly volatile and illiquid as a result, raising risks for banks. A spokeswoman for Britain's Lloyds Banking Group said a "third-party supplier" which handles its foreign exchange service had ceased trading in Qatar's riyal as of June 21.

"This currency is no longer available for sale or buy-back across our high street banks including Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and Halifax," she said.

Tesco Bank said it had halted dealings in the riyal, while Barclays stopped trading riyals for retail customers but continued the service for corporate customers, a source said. Royal Bank of Scotland said it had stopped trading riyals for retail customers.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team