Hawala Update

Story by Eric Blom

Somali people in Minnesota who send money to east Africa are still concerned that the method they use to transfer funds to family members in Africa will soon shut down. Earlier this month, the Franklin Bank in Minneapolis announced it would stop working with “hawalas” on the fund transfers. The deadline was this week. Franklin Bank is the only local bank currently willing to make these transactions.
But Wednesdays deadline passed without incident and the fund transfers are still going on. KFAI’s Eric Blom explains.