The

Somali Lifeline Crisis and U.S. Bank At the end of 2011, a large number of Somali Americans gathered in Minneapolis Peavey Park to draw attention to the decision by a local community bank to cease wiring funds to their relatives in East Africa. While famine and violence continue to ravage Somalia, Somali Minnesotans face significant challenges in sending financial support to their loved ones. Minnesota banks have not assisted in the transfer of funds through Money Service Businesses (MSBs), the community-based financial institutions that are the only practical method to transfer funds to the country. In the year-and-a-half since, the Somali community in Minnesota has publicly pleaded with government officials and bank executives to find a solution. Meetings with officials from U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo have thus far proved fruitless. Negotiations with Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank continue to take place and there remains some hope that a solution might be reached. A limited number of transactions are being conducted through the MSBs at this time. However these represent only a small fraction of the transfers that need to take placethe capacity necessary to meet the urgent financial needs of Somali families in East Africa will require an agreement with a large-scale institution such as U.S. Bank or Wells Fargo. Minnesota is home to an estimated 32,000 Somalis. The U.S. Department of the Treasury estimates Somalis in the United States send almost $100 million a year to people in Somalia. While federal law does not prevent banks from conducting the transfers and the Treasury Department has stated that it is indeed safe for them to do so, the banks continue to claim that they might be held liable should funds end up in the wrong hands. Namely, the banks cite concerns of the possibility of funds being transferred to terrorist organizations. Minnesotas Congressional delegation, led by Representative Keith Ellison [D-Minn.] have lobbied the Treasury Department to provide banks with assurances that they would not be held liable in the unlikely event that such a transaction would occur. At a large community meeting in March of 2012, attended by hundreds of Somali Minnesotans, the community set a deadline for May 11 for the banks to reach a solution to the humanitarian crisis. On Friday, May 11, as the deadline was reached, more than 1,000 individuals from Minnesotas immigrant communities signed a pledge to close their accounts with Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank. Further, SEIU Local 26, a Minneapolis labor union that works closely with the Somali and Latino communities, closed their Wells Fargo account, a business account with a balance of $72,000. Minnesota State Representative Karen Clark and the Harrison Neighborhood Association also announced that they were closing their bank

accounts as a sign of solidarity. The Harrison Neighborhood Association account with Wells Fargo had a balance of about $180,000. Hundreds gathered outside of Wells Fargo Center on that afternoon, many of who closed their bank accounts at the downtown branch. Watch video highlights from the event here. Each day that this crisis is allowed to continue, more and more Somalis face the realities of eviction, greater food insecurity and medical uncertainty. For many, the financial support sent by family members in Minnesota is the only income received.

U.S. Bank has the ability to resolve this crisis today. Representatives of the Minnesota Somali community will be in Boise to seek the assistance of CEO Richard Davis directly. A similar appeal happened at the 2012 shareholder meeting in Minneapolis.