Former Hackney councillor ‘debanked’ by HSBC after Ukraine trip

A former Queensbridge councillor who twice stood for mayor of Hackney has had his bank account closed after a visit to Ukraine, and is warning others who travel there in support of the country that they may face the same treatment.

Andrew Boff, the Conservative chair of the London Assembly, spent 30 years banking with First Direct, a division of HSBC. He visited Ukraine in late May as part of a Council of Europe delegation to the Ukraine Recovery Conference’s International Summit of Cities and Regions in Kyiv.

Boff spent £36 on his card while in the country, and found it no longer worked once he returned to the UK the following day.

Two months’ silence, then closure

On 8 July — almost two months later — the bank informed him that it had “identified transactions made in a sanctioned country”. The letter, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), reads: “As part of regulations, we must comply with sanction laws and manage any risks effectively. Following a recent review, we determined that the management of these risks is outside of our acceptable limits.”

Despite banking with First Direct for 30 years, Boff says he is not allowed to appeal, and his account will close in October. He became chair of the London Assembly for the third time in May.

‘Coffee in Ukraine, not Russia’

Boff said: “It is imperative that we have a robust sanctions programme so as to clamp down on the means that the Russian war machine has to fund its brutal war.

“But a robust sanctions programme is one which can differentiate between buying a coffee in Ukraine and a coffee in Russia.

“I am disappointed that First Direct have been unable to communicate more comprehensively, and that there has been no way for me to clarify to them what has happened with the hope of regaining access to my savings and direct debits.

“This is simply unacceptable and I hope that the system can be revised before more Brits are caught this way.

“HSBC, which issued the instruction to First Direct, is headquartered in London but has deep exposure to Hong Kong and China, which makes its treatment of a UK customer after a visit to Ukraine all the more troubling.”

A Hackney political career

Boff has long-standing ties to the borough. He was leader of Hillingdon Council before moving to Hackney in 1993, and won a Queensbridge ward byelection in January 2005 before losing the seat to Labour’s Patrick Vernon the following year. He came second in both the 2002 and 2006 Hackney mayoral elections, and was first elected to the London Assembly in 2008.

Reform backs the complaint

Boff was supported by Reform UK’s Alex Wilson, who leads the party’s two-member group at City Hall alongside Havering and Redbridge member Keith Prince. Wilson, a former Conservative councillor on Redbridge Council who joined Reform after more than two decades in the Tory party, was first elected to the London Assembly as a Londonwide member in 2024, having worked as a pollster for the party.

Wilson told the LDRS: “The debanking of elected politicians is an unfair and deeply undemocratic practice which is tantamount to political interference.

“Reform UK have suffered from this more than any other party, with the unjust closure of Nigel Farage’s NatWest account as well as the central Party’s MetroBank account a few years ago. It’s concerning that the trend continues.

“I hope that First Direct rescind this shocking decision and apologise to Mr Boff.”

HSBC declined to comment.