ASR

Financial Institutions, Hall of Fame

ASR is a Dutch insurance company offering a broad range of insurance, savings and investment products and bank savings products.[1] The Netherlands was ASR.’s only shareholder from October 2008 until it began trading in 2016 on the Euronext stock exchange.[2] In 2016, ASR managed over €56 billion in assets.[3]

ASR’s Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) policy states that the insurance company “always excludes companies that produce and/or sell controversial weapons”, including nuclear weapons.[4] The policy also excludes companies involved in the production of specifically designed delivery systems.[5]

ASR applies its policy to all subsidiary activities.[6] External asset managers are also required to comply with ASR’s criteria regarding nuclear weapons.[7]

ASR’s investment portfolio is screened twice a year by Eiris[8] for companies not complying with its responsible investment policy. As of the second half of 2017, the exclusion list includes the following companies for their association with armaments: AECOM; Aerojet Rocketdyne; Aerotech; Airbus; Aryt Industries; Asahi Kasei; Aselsan Elektronik Sanayi Ve Ticaret; Ashot Ashkelon; AviChina Industry & Technology; Avon Rubber; Babcock Internationa; BAE Systems; Ball; Bechtel; Boeing; BWX Technologies; CACI InternationaL; CAE Industries; CH2M Hill; Chemring; China Aerospace; China National Nuclear Power; China Shipbuilding Industry; CNH Industrial; Cnim; Cobham; Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie; Cohort; CSRA; Daicel; Daikin Industries; Dassault Aviation; Day & Zimmermann; Dick’s Sporting Goods; Doosan; DUCOMMUN; E2V Technologies; Engility Holdings; Esterline Technologies; Exor; Fengfan; Financiere Richemont (Switzerland); Fluor; General Dynamics; GKN; Guandong Orient Zirconic; Hanwha Techwin; Harris; Honeywell International; Huneed Technologies; Huntington Ingalls Industries; IHI; Investor B; Jacobs Engineering; Japan Steel Works; JFE Holdings; Kaman; Kawasaki Heavy Industries; Kobe Steel; Komatsu; Kratos Defense & Security; L&T Finance Holdings; L3 Technologies; Larsen & Toubro; Leidos Holdings; Leonardo; Lockheed Martin; Man; Mantech International; Meggitt; Mercadolibre; Mitsubishi; Mitsubishi Electric; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; Moog; Motovilikhinskiye Zavody; MTU Aero Engines; Norinco International Cooperation; Northrop Grumman; Orbital ATK; Poongsan; Premier Explosives; QinetiQ; Raytheon; Rheinmetall; Rockwell Collins; Rolls-Royce Holdings; S&T Holdings; Saab; Safran; Serco; Singapore Technologies Engineering; Sojitz; SPLAV State Research and Production Enterprise; Subaru; Sumitomo Heavy Industries; Tata Power; Temasek Holding; Textron; Thales; ThyssenKrupp; Toshiba; Ultra Electronics Holdings; United Technologies; Volvo trucks; Walchandnagar Industries and Wal-Mart Stores.[9]

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[1] ASR, “About a.s.r.”, website ASR (http://asrnl.com/about-asr), viewed 23 January 2018.

[2] ASR, “Shareholders: Frequently asked questions”, website a.s.r. (http://asrnl.com/investor-relations/shareholders/faq), viewed 23 January 2018.

[3] ASR,  “Financial and business performance in 2016”, available at http://asrnl.com/media/2398/fy2016-press-release-en.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.

[4] ASR, “Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Policy”, page 6, July 2016, available at http://asrnl.com/media/2203/sri-policy-asr-nederland-nv.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.

[5] ASR, written response to PAX dated 2 June 2015.

[6] ASR, “Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Policy”, page 4, July 2016, available at http://asrnl.com/media/2203/sri-policy-asr-nederland-nv.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.

[7] ASR, written response to to PAX dated 30 November 2017.

[8] ASR, “Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Policy”, page 3, July 2016, available at http://asrnl.com/media/2203/sri-policy-asr-nederland-nv.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.

[9] ASR, “Overview excluded companies by controversial activities H1 2017”, available at: http://asrnederland.nl/media/2692/20171023-excluded-companies-publication-h2-2017.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018; ASR, written response to PAX dated 30 November 2017

Last updated 6 July 2018

About Maaike Beenes

Maaike Beenes works for the humanitarian disarmament program for PAX in the Netherlands. She researches investments by financial institutions in producers of controversial weapons, notably nuclear weapons and cluster munitions, and is co-author of the reports ‘Don’t Bank on the Bomb’ and ‘Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions’. As part of the Don’t Bank on the Bomb campaign of PAX and ICAN, she works together with campaigners around the world to hold banks and other investors accountable for their investments in nuclear and other controversial weapons. She was involved in the negotiations for the Treaty on the Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons on behalf of PAX and ICAN.