Several banks in the United Kingdom (UK) on Friday said they have stopped dealing in Qatari currency as the rising diplomatic crisis hammering the Gulf country has disrupted the overseas trading of Qatari riyals.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen and Egypt had announced earlier this month that they have joined Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in withdrawing their diplomatic staff from Qatar.
The Gulf nations said their decision was based on the claims that Qatar supported Islamist groups and associated with terrorism. Doha, however, denies all the allegations. The nations also severed travel links with Qatar on June 5.
Reuters reports stated that offshore trade of the riyal has become more volatile and illiquid because of the diplomatic crisis surrounding the country, which is a high risk for banks trading in the nation's currency.
Barclays on Friday joined the list of British banks announcing that they will no longer trade Qatari riyals for high street customers.
Britain's Lloyds Banking Group's spokesperson said a "third party supplier" which handles its foreign exchange service had ceased trading in Qatar's riyal as of June 21, according to Reuters.
"This currency is no longer available for sale or buyback across our high street banks, including Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and Halifax," the spokesperson said.
The Royal Bank of Scotland said it has stopped trading riyals for its retail customers.
However, some big international banks have continued trading in the riyal. A HSBC spokesperson on Friday said the bank was still providing riyals for high street customers.
The riyal, this week, traded at its lowest in a decade at 3.81 to the US dollar.
