The State Banking Department has been urged by the American Jewish Congress to demand assurances of non-discrimination on account of race, religion or political considerations before granting a charter to a new financial institution to be known as the “United Bank, Arab and French, New York.” In a letter to acting superintendent Ernest Kohn, the AJCongress declared “Many Arab commercial interests, especially within the financial community, have publicly announced their intention to carry out the boycott objectives of the Arab League. We believe it appropriate therefore that your Commission, as a precondition to the issuance of a charter, receive assurances that the business affairs of this new banking institution will be conducted fully in conformity with the letter and spirit of our laws and with the national policy of this country as expressed both in the statements of our government and the enactments of our legislature.”
Four American banks–Bankers Trust of New York, First National of Chicago, Security Pacific of California and Texas Commerce Banishers–have reportedly applied to the State Banking Commission for permission to establish the new financial institution, whose associates would include more than 20 Arab banks and several from Europe. An estimated 40 percent of the bank’s initial $25 million capital will come from Arab sources, according to news reports. The United Bank, Arab and French (U.B.A.F.) currently operates 22 banks around the world, the AJCongress said.
The American Jewish Congress letter, signed by its president, Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, asked the State Banking Department to make sure “that the operations of the proposed bank will be divorced from non-commercial, political considerations of it will in no way discriminate in any facet of its operations because of race or religion or because of the alleged or real connections any potential business associate may have with any country friendly to the U.S., including the State of Israel.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
