Bankenheimer: Number of banks shunning nuclear weapons jumps 10 per cent
As Christopher Nolan’s epic about Oppenheimer, Godfather of the atomic bomb, hits cinema screens, new research shows banks globally are pulling back from funding nuclear weapons.
According to a new report from Don’t Bank on the Bomb, 109 financial firms worldwide have published policies restricting investment in nuclear weapon producers.
This was roughly 10 per cent more than last year and represents a “steady year-on-year increase” in the number of investors avoiding the industry.
“The growing number of financial institutions listed in this report provides a snapshot of the emerging norm within the financial sector to avoid companies contributing to existential risks,” the report said.
In the UK, the Co-operative Bank was the only lender to have explicitly ruled out funding to producers of nuclear weapons. It joined 54 global peers including Ireland’s AIB Group and the Netherlands’ Rabobank.
The Co-op Bank states it will not invest in any company that “manufactures or transfers indiscriminate weapons”.
Barclays, Natwest and Standard Chartered were rated in the ‘runners-up’ category. This means they have taken steps to restrict investment in nuclear weapon producers, but their policy is not all inclusive.
For example, while Barclays does not directly finance the production or trade of nuclear weapons, it does finance weapons manufacturers more broadly.
At Natwest, investments can only be made in officially accredited programmes in the US, UK or France. Even then, it is on a restricted basis.
Many of Europe’s largest lenders also featured in this category such as Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas. In total, 54 financial firms were ranked as ‘runners-up’.
No other UK banks had restrictions on funding put in place. However, research from earlier in the year showed that the total value of investments by UK firms in nuclear weapons declined from nearly $40bn in 2021 to $25.4bn last year.
Alejandra Munoz of the No Nukes Project at PAX said he hoped to “welcome more UK institutions to the report in a future update”.
A Barclays spokesperson said: “Our approach to this sector is outlined in our Defence and Security Statement, which states that Barclays has no appetite to directly finance the manufacture of, or the trade in, nuclear weapons.”
Standard Chartered declined to comment while Natwest did not respond to requests for comment.