Investors get ready for nuclear weapons ban

Utrecht, 8 December 2016

Eighteen financial institutions, managing more than 1.7 trillion euros, prohibit investments in nuclear weapons producers. These institutions are prepared for the legal implications of a ban on nuclear weapons to be negotiated at the UN in 2017.

Another 36 institutions have some form of limitation on such investments. But far too many institutions are still investing in nuclear weapons producers, according to Don’t Bank on the Bomb, a report published today by Dutch peace organization PAX.

Hall of Fame
“Governments have decided to negotiate a nuclear weapons ban treaty in 2017, and now is the time for banks, pension funds and insurance companies to get ready and end financial relations with companies involved in weapons of mass destruction,” says Susi Snyder, PAX programme manager for nuclear disarmament and  co-author of the report.   ?

The financial institutions with comprehensive policies prohibiting investment in nuclear weapons producers are based in Australia, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. They make up the report´s Hall of Fame and show that investment in nuclear weapons is a choice, not a necessity. Institutions imposing limitations on investing in nuclear weapons producers are responding to the growing stigma against these weapons, designed to kill indiscriminately.

For instance, Nadja Franssen, Socially Responsible Investments portfolio manager for the Dutch pension fund SPF, explains, “Controversial weapons are something our customers absolutely want to distance themselves from.”

Heeding the call
The report also identifies 390 banks, insurance companies and pension funds that still invest in nuclear weapon producing companies. Since 2013, these companies have made nearly half a trillion dollars available to companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons. Activists around the world call on financial institutions to stop investing in weapons of mass destruction and prepare for a ban.

In October, the UN General Assembly First Committee agreed to start negotiations in March 2017 on a new treaty to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons. By already stigmatizing nuclear investments, these financial institutions are preparing for a prohibition.

MediaNet- Australian release

 2015 Press Release   |   2015 Video Launch

Financial institutions drop the bomb from their investment portfolio

Geneva, 12 November 2015

53 financial institutions prohibit or limit investments in nuclear weapon producers, shows Don’t Bank on the Bomb, a report published today by Dutch peace organization PAX. This is a 150% increase compared to last year’s report. The increase illustrates the growing stigmatization of nuclear weapons because of the renewed focus on their humanitarian consequences. The report also identifies 382 banks, insurance companies and pension funds which have made USD 493 billion available to nuclear weapons producers since January 2012. Based on evidence presented in the report, activists worldwide call on financial institutions to stop any investments into weapons of mass destruction, and on governments to ban nuclear weapons once and for all.

The PAX report shows how these stigmatizing policies result in new exclusions by a number of institutions, including Fonds de Compensation (Luxembourg) and Nordea (Sweden). PAX researcher Wilbert van der Zeijden, co-author of the report: “No bank, pension fund or insurance company should have financial relations with companies involved in weapons of mass destruction. In the case of a nuclear detonation, the humanitarian consequences will last for decades and effective aid will not be possible. The only way to prevent this from happening is to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons.

Stigmatizing these inhumane and indiscriminate weapons, and excluding them from investments, will help.” Nuclear weapons are the only weapons of mass destruction not yet explicitly prohibited under international law, a legal gap that 121 countries have pledged to fill. By stigmatising nuclear investments, these 53 financial institutions help pave the way towards a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty.

Hall of Fame

Investments in nuclear weapon producers are not a necessity but a choice, as is shown by 13 financial institutions listed in the report’s Hall of Fame. These institutions have outstanding policies preventing any types of investment in any company with association to nuclear weapons. These institutions are based in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Susi Snyder, co-author of the report: “Divestment makes it clear to producers that as long as they are involved in nuclear weapon programmes, they will be considered illegitimate, and a bad investment.”

Top 10 investors

The report details identifies 382 banks, insurance companies and pension funds with investments of a total of 493 billion dollars in 26 companies involved in the production, maintenance or stockpiling of nuclear weapons. The top 10 investors alone provided more than USD 209 billion to the identified nuclear weapon producers. All of the top10 are based in the US. The top 3: Capital Group, State Street, and Blackrock, have more than 95 billion USD combined invested in the producers named in this report. In Europe, the most heavily invested are BNP Paribas (France), Royal Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom) and Crédit Agricole (France). In the Asia-Pacific region, the biggest investors are Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (Japan), Life Insurance Corporation of India, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (Japan).