UK banking 'tragedy' plays out for Somalis - Features - Al Jazeera English

UK banking 'tragedy' plays out for Somalis - Features - Al Jazeera English:

 London, UK - It is afternoon rush hour and a shop on High Steet in Finsbury Park has customers patiently queuing outside for their turn to be served.

This isn't your typical North London store but a place where immigrants, mainly Somalis, come to send money to families back home.

These establishments are a crucial lifeline for people in impoverished Somalia and elsewhere. The estimated 1.5 million Somalis living abroad send about $1.3bn a year to the country, with those living in the United Kingdom transferring more than $100m.

The informal money transfer system, known as Hawal, is used throughout the world mostly by South Asian, African, and Middle Eastern expatriates to get much-needed cash to relatives in their native lands.