HSBC fires Birmingham staff after filming video of mock-Islamic State execution

HSBC has sacked several employees who made a video in which they pretended to be Islamic State militants beheading a hostage. 

 

The video, which was posted online, shows one man dressed in an orange jumpsuit surrounded by five other men dressed in black, one of whom was holding a fake knife. One man is seen "Allahu Akbar" – Arabic for "god is great" – while others laugh.

 

According to The Sun, which posted an eight-second clip of the video, the employees created the video while on a team-building day out at Teamworks Karting in Birmingham.

 

The newspaper said the men behind the video came from HSBC's legal division in Birmingham.

 

"As soon as the Sun brought this video to our attention we took the decision to sack the individuals involved," the bank said, adding that it did not tolerate "inappropriate behaviour".

 

"This is an abhorrent video and HSBC would like to apologise for any offence caused."

 

Teamworks Karting, which has lodged a complaint with the HSBC, also slammed the men's "shocking behaviour".

 

It said: "The abhorrent video was filmed without our knowledge, during a private party booked by one of our corporate clients and we would not wish this to reflect negatively on Teamworks.”