Spain’s BBVA unfreezes Chinese customers’ bank accounts after protest in Madrid

Spain’s second-largest bank has apologized and unfrozen some Chinese customers’ accounts frozen after Chinese customers protested and accused the financial services group of racism.

BBVA has entirely unfrozen bank accounts that were frozen after February 1 and the accounts of almost 40,000 Chinese people residing or studying in Spain have been restored, a union of Chinese communities in Spain said in a posting on its WeChat account on Sunday. Another announcement on the union’s account on Friday said that a protest was organized at the BBVA Foundation in Madrid on the same day.

“The bank apologized on Saturday but denied that it had deliberately discriminated against Chinese customers, claiming the accounts were frozen in compliance with Spanish anti-money laundering regulations,” CNN reported on Saturday.

Over the past few weeks, mostly around the Spring Festival holidays, great inconvenience was caused to many Chinese in Spain, according to media reports.

BBVA only notified relevant Chinese customers via mobile apps one or two days before freezing their accounts, Noel Sunuoyi, a Spanish male, said in a video posted last week on his Sina Weibo account.

Even if customers updated their information as requested afterward, it would take months to unfreeze their accounts, he reckoned. He said that BBVA’s explanation and behavior were improper and it’s more like they were just targeting Chinese, which is racism.