A customer at a Tesco Bank cash point, in Liverpool, north west England, on November 7, 2016.

:: Tesco Bank, owned by Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco, is no longer allowing customers to buy or sell Qatari riyals at its stores, a spokesman for the retailer said on Friday.

According to Doha News website, many foreign banks and exchange agencies have stopped accepting Qatari riyals from Wednesday.

Banking institutions have put the Qatari riyal under surveillance due to its sharp drop in the market after the crisis when several Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain decided to cut diplomatic ties with Doha.

Barclays bank and Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group said on Friday that it has also stopped trading Qatari Riyals and that the currency is no longer available for sale or buy-back at its high-street banks.

A spokeswoman for the bank said a “third-party supplier” that fulfils its foreign exchange service had ceased trading in the currency from June 21.

“This currency is no longer available for sale or buy-back across our high street banks including Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and Halifax,” the spokeswoman said.