HSBC closing embassies and consulates bank accounts all around the world.

[Transisto]

http://rt.com/business/hsbc-diplomats-bank-embassy-059/

The London-based bank said in a statement the missions  which they consider ‘commercial customers’  are a risk because they fear the money can end up in a money laundering or drug cartel.

"We were served by HSBC for 22 years, and when they threw us like that, it hit like a bombshell," John Bielawa, an official at Papua New Guinea’s High Commission said.

... Nobody should take for granted access to banking services .

Where will that end ? Could Bitcoiners eventually be at risks of being tagged as possible money launderer from a single transfer from/to a BTC exchange ?

[Carlton Banks]

Or could Bitcoin have found itself a lucrative new customer base?  

I understand the Equadorian Embassy in London already has some Bitcoin traffic...

Jokes aside though, I think this is a damning indictment of state privileges, as the diplomatic immunity convention has commonly been used to conceal law breaking of all types and scales for many, many years now. I can't remember who it was, but there's a (perhaps apocryphal) story about a London based rock star who would stick a couple of little flags on the corners of their car bonnet as a guaranteed way to never get stop/searched by the London police (in all likelihood: Keith Richards)

[solex]

This is no less than financial terrorism being waged against countries which are not part of the bankster cartel.

Barclays withdraws banking serves from Somalia, HSBC from PNG - which is the last country in the world to be a problem to anyone, Cypriot savers get raped... it goes on

Bitcoin needs two things urgently, the point-of-sale improvements, which core dev are working on, and the scalability issues resolved., because the fiat system is tearing itself to bits through unbridled greed and power-plays.

[Carlton Banks]

Barclays withdraws banking serves from Somalia, HSBC from PNG - which is the last country in the world to be a problem to anyone, Cypriot savers get raped... it goes on

Although I agree entirely with your overall position, I'm not sure that Papua New Guinea are being singled out here, HSBC have withdrawn services from all diplomatic missions. Or at least that's how it has been presented in the media, I wonder which countries they might make exceptions for...

[Gyom]

[solex]

Barclays withdraws banking serves from Somalia, HSBC from PNG - which is the last country in the world to be a problem to anyone, Cypriot savers get raped... it goes on

Although I agree entirely with your overall position, I'm not sure that Papua New Guinea are being singled out here, HSBC have withdrawn services from all diplomatic missions. Or at least that's how it has been presented in the media, I wonder which countries they might make exceptions for...

Agreed. But some countries will find it more difficult to obtain alternative services.

[CurbsideProphet]

HSBC scared about money laundering?  Now that is the pot calling the kettle black.

[Carlton Banks]

HSBC scared about money laundering?  Now that is the pot calling the kettle black.

Well, I think HSBC are trying to hint that "it wasn't our fault, it was diplomatic immunity that done it" with this whole story. Probably not all nations use HSBC for their embassy banking, but perhaps maybe Mexico does (did). It's kind of the paradox of government: you have to give these people blind trust for it to function effectively, and in so doing, they're given all the tools they need not just to uphold the law, but also to break it egregiously. Government isn't so bad when they're genuinely well intentioned and trustworthy people (I think...  )

[BCB]

Bitcoin and it's transparent distributed ledger to the rescue.

[countryfree]

Well, few people talk about it but some embassies are terrible people to make business with. As ambassadors can't be arrested, some are abusing their rights, parking where it's not allowed, or going to the best hotels, and leaving without paying for their rooms. I got that from a top hotel in the French riviera. An ambassador leaves saying that the hotel shall bill the embassy. The hotel's doing just that, but one month later, when the hotel calls the embassy to ask why they haven't paid, the embassy just replies that it hasn't received the bill...

Awful people. I understand HSBC's decision.