The messy world of international sanctions has become a stumbling block for a couple preparing to visit family for the first time in three years
A global law expert says the ramping up of international sanctions could increasingly interfere with individuals’ lives, after a bank declined an Iranian national a credit card limit extension to buy plane tickets to visit family back home.
Geotechnical engineer Arman Kamalzadeh has been in New Zealand with his wife, a cancer researcher, since 2019. The couple are on work visas, and have applied for residency after finishing their post-graduate studies in Auckland.
After being stranded here for the past three years, they are looking to head overseas to visit family and have a holiday. In order to cover the cost of their plane tickets, he planned to increase the limit on the couple’s credit card.
Kamalzadeh called ANZ and told the customer representative at the end of the line he was looking to increase the limit to buy airfares in order to visit family in Iran, before extending their trip to holiday destinations afterwards.
The agent told him the request would be declined under the bank’s sanctions policy, as his intention was to use the extra credit to travel to a directly, or indirectly, sanctioned country.
He was dumbstruck by the response, and says it leaves him feeling like he’s not fully accepted in New Zealand society.
“If I wanted to do anything shady, I wouldn’t be upfront,”
– Arman Kamalzadeh
“You feel like you’ve played everything by the book and you’ve done everything to try to have a better life, while also benefiting the society you’re living in. It feels like back-stabbing,” he says.
“If I wanted to do anything shady, I wouldn’t be upfront.”
Kamalzadeh says he’s not expecting the bank to change its approach and there’ll be alternative ways for the couple to get the money for their trip. Instead, he hopes that sharing his story will help raise awareness of such barriers.
Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, an Iranian-Kiwi refugee herself, thinks Kamalzadeh’s situation reflects wider discrimination faced by people of Middle Eastern descent, even after the outpouring of public support following the Christchurch mosque shootings.
“This is the kind of thing that they have faced over and over again – being treated like terrorists, being degraded, and being dehumanised,” she says.
“As a member of the New Zealand Parliament, presumably if I wanted to get a loan from ANZ to travel back to Iran to see my family, they would treat me like a terrorist.”
Policy not discriminatory – ANZ
ANZ senior manager of external communications, Briar McCormack, says the bank sympathises with the situation Kamalzadeh is in, but it stands by its decision.
“Our sanctions policy is clear. ANZ does not enter, or remain involved in, transactions that have any connection directly or indirectly with any prohibited country or region – including Iran.”
McCormack says the policy applies to all customers and “does not discriminate on the basis of national origin or race”.
Instead, she says the sanctions policy ensures the bank complies with its domestic and internal sanctions obligations, which are used by nation states to protect international peace and security.
“Sanctions and their application in the financial market are well established and critically important. Financial institutions want to provide their customers with access to services whenever possible, but are also obliged to take steps to avoid breaches of New Zealand law and overseas law.”
Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy says sanctions play an important role in deterring illegal action by states, but the policies cannot discriminate against customers and shouldn’t be applied in a blanket way.
He says Kamalzadeh appears to be penalised for being honest and disclosing his intentions.
“The customer could easily have left the details of their holiday plans out and simply described a visit to family overseas and likely been approved,” he says.
“This seems absurd and it’s unclear the extent to which ANZ has made enquiries to see whether its policy was actually appropriate to apply in this instance.”
Duffy says the options Kamalzadeh has include escalating the matter and consider making a complaint to the Banking Ombudsman Scheme or the Human Rights Commission.
‘Tip of the iceberg’
ANZ isn’t the only bank which has a strict sanctions policy. Others who have a similar policy include ASB and Westpac.
According to the Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden, the scheme receives a very small number of complaints about sanctions policies.
Since July 2021, the scheme has handled 4105 cases. Of these, 18 – less than one percent – have been related to sanctions.
While she sympathises with Kamalzadeh’s situation, Sladden says banks are able to implement risk-based policies, and don’t have any general obligation to provide customers with an account or services.
University of Waikato international law Professor Alexander Gillespie says processing transactions involving sanctioned countries might not be a direct breach of New Zealand law, but it could be a breach of another country’s law.
“This will escalate and [will get] worse and more complicated going forward. This is just the tip of the iceberg, especially if the conflict overseas continues on a long term basis,”
– International law Professor Alexander Gillespie
“That’s why banks that are multinational have to be very careful that they don’t run afoul of other countries, not just their own laws,” he says.
“If you were dealing with a bank that was just in New Zealand and that was not related to any overseas market or overseas shareholders, it would be a much simpler equation.”
Things get complicated when the transaction involves an entity, such as the bank, that is based offshore and has strong relationships with other countries that have different sanctions.
“That’s why the banks are going to be super cautious to make sure they don’t muddy opportunities in those countries,” he says.
Gillespie expects the flow-on effect of sanctions on individuals will become more complicated due to the ramp-up of sanctions against Russia.
“The question of sanctions isn’t dealt with bilaterally – it’s dealt with multilaterally with a lot of different considerations, like the use of force and other ways that we can put pressure on the country,” he says.
“This will escalate and [will get] worse and more complicated going forward. This is just the tip of the iceberg, especially if the conflict overseas continues on a long term basis.”
