Al Taqwa Bank - History

History

The Al Taqwa (Arabic for "Fear of God") network of financial companies was set up in 1988 by prominent members of the Muslim Brotherhood, most notably Al Taqwa's chairman and co-founder, Youssef Nada. Later, Swiss Islamic convert Ahmed Huber, a vocal admirer of Adolf Hitler, was hired because the company needed at least one Swiss citizen on its board. Another co-founder was François Genoud, one of the key managers of Nazi assets after the second world war who later attained notoriety as the publisher of Joseph Goebbels' diaries.

Al Taqwa Bank was targeted early on by the United States because of its alleged links to terrorism. The U.S. also targeted it because its allegedly terror-related funds indirectly filter through the banking system of the United States, through its use of correspondent accounts. Al Taqwa Bank holds such accounts with the Swiss Banca del Gottardo, which in turn holds correspondent accounts with Citibank and the Bank of New York.