Arab Bank May Pull Out of U.S. Market

Arab Bank, one of the Middle East’s largest, may quit the United States owing to an increasingly awkward climate exemplified by recent lawsuits from victims of Palestinian violence, a source at the bank said on Wednesday.

The Palestinian-managed bank, which has branches in cities from Austria to Korea, said its board of directors had taken a first step towards closing its New York branch, whose borrowers include more than 60 U.S. blue-chip firms with business in the Arab world.

“It’s an option that we cannot rule out. The environment has become extremely litigious. When we look at the cost/benefit, we cannot rule out phasing out our American operations as an option,” said the senior source, who declined to be identified.

Lawsuits claiming several billion dollars have been filed against the bank by families of U.S. citizens killed or injured in Palestinian militant violence in Israel. They accuse Arab Bank of helping to move money to families of suicide bombers.

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