Britain's largest bank has fired six of its employees for taking part in a video showing a mock Islamic State-style execution. The seven-second clip shows HSBC staff members in balaclavas standing over an Asian colleague dressed in an orange jumpsuit, whose hands are tied behind his back. A coat hanger is used by one the men as a pretend knife. One of them then shouts "Allahu Akbar" — Arabic for "god is greater" – a phrase used by Islamic State militants during executions. The stunt was filmed while the employees were on a corporate team-building exercise and was posted on Instagram but quickly deleted, reports The Sun. It is believed that the men were part of a Birmingham-based legal team. One source told the newspaper: "It's shocking they would think this is funny."An HSBC spokesperson said such behaviour would not be tolerated. "As soon as The Sun brought this video to our attention we took the decision to sack the individuals involved," they said. "This is an abhorrent video and HSBC would like to apologise for any offence caused."The video is reminiscent of gruesome Islamic State beheadings that shocked the world, including the murder of British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning. IS militants have executed over 3,000 people in Syria in the year since it declared an Islamic "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told The Guardian.
HSBC has suffered months of bad publicity, including claims that it had helped its wealthiest clients avoid paying tax and large fines for trying to rig foreign exchange markets.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Citibank to cut off online access for customers who don't go paperlessSpeed Read The bank will shut off the customer's access to both their online website and mobile app
-
First Republic: will UK banks survive unscathed?Under the Radar US shares dip after collapse of third regional bank, but experts say contagion to the UK is unlikely
-
Banking crisis: has the city weathered the financial storm?Talking Point The financial storm appears to have abated, but no one’s ruling out more squalls along the way
-
The Silicon Valley Bank collapsefeature Sudden failure of tech sector’s go-to bank sparks fears of wider contagion
-
Should the UK relax bank ring-fencing rules?Talking Point Treasury minister said he hopes to ‘boost competitiveness’ in the City with easing of regulations
-
Should caps on bankers’ bonuses be scrapped?Talking Point New chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng believed to be planning contentious move to ‘boost the City’
-
Labour shortages: the ‘most urgent problem’ facing the UK economy right nowSpeed Read Britain is currently in the grip of an ‘employment crisis’
-
Will the energy war hurt Europe more than Russia?Speed Read European Commission proposes a total ban on Russian oil
