Nordea is the largest Nordic bank. It is active in in corporate and institutional banking as well as in retail and private banking.[1] Nordea serves more than 10 million investors and has over €260 billion assets under management.[2]
Nordea’s policy on nuclear weapons states that Nordea “does not invest in companies which are involved in the production or development of nuclear weapons”.[3] Nordea excludes companies that contribute to the development or manufacture of new nuclear weapon programs, including delivery systems that are specifically designed for nuclear weapons, in line with Nordea’s 2010 policy on illegal weapons.[4] In 2017 the policy was extended to also include companies involved in maintenance of nuclear weapons when at least 5% of their revenue is derived from military products. [5]
Nordea’s exclusion policy applies to all actively managed products, except for “index funds, fund of funds using index derivatives, index funds or external funds and external funds.” External asset managers are encouraged to implement Nordea’s Policy for Responsible Investment. [6]
As of October 2017, Nordea’s exclusion list currently contains 29 companies for involvement with nuclear weapons: AECOM; Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings; BAE Systems; The Boeing Company; Booz Allen Hamilton Holding; CACI International; China Shipbuilding Industry; Cohort; Constructions Industrielles de la Mediterranee; Engility Holdings; Fluor; Harris; Honeywell International; Huntington Ingalls Industries; Jacobs Engineering; L3 Technologies; Leidos Holdings; Leonardo; Moog; Northrop Grumman; Premier Explosives; Raytheon; Rolls-Royce Holdings; Safran; Serco Group; Thales; Ultra Electronics Holdings; United Technologies and Walchandnagar Industries.[7] The exclusion list is based on the findings of data provider Ethix SRI Advisors.[8]
Nordea was also found to have several below-the-threshold investments in nuclear weapon producing companies identified by this report.
We commend Nordea for adopting a public policy on nuclear weapons and for expanding the policy’s scope to companies involved in maintenance of nuclear weapons. However, we recommend Nordea strengthen its policy to cover all companies regardless of the percentage of revenue derived from nuclear weapon maintenance, and to apply it to all of Nordea’s financial products including commercial banking and investment banking activities, passively managed funds and external asset managers. We look forward to engaging with Nordea, so a strong and comprehensively applied policy may be listed in the Hall of Fame in a future update of this report.
[1] Nordea, “Our organisation”, Nordea website (http://www.nordea.com/en/about-nordea/who-we-are/our-organisation/), viewed 23 January 2018.
[2] Nordea, “Policies”, Nordea website (http://www.nordea.com/en/responsibility/sustainable-finance/policies/), viewed 23 January 2018.
[3] Nordea, “Responsible investment policy”, available at: https://www.nordea.com/Images/33-227926/RI_Policy_OCTOBER_2017.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.
[4] Nordea, “Responsible Investments & Identity. Annual Report 2012”, p.13, available at http://www.nordea.com/sitemod/upload/root/www.nordea.com%20-%20uk/aboutnordea/csr/RIG_Annual_2013_final_web.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.
[5] Nordea, written response to Pax dated 2 September 2013; Nordea, written response to Profundo dated 25 June 2014.
[6] Nordea, “Responsible investment policy”, available at: https://www.nordea.com/Images/33-227926/RI_Policy_OCTOBER_2017.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.
[7] Nordea, “Exclusion List”, available at hhttps://www.nordea.com/en/sustainability/sustainable-finance/exclusion-list/, viewed 23 January 2018.
[8] Nordea, “Responsible Investment Report 2014 ”, p.9, available at http://www.nordea.com/Images/33-50580/Nordea_RII_Annual_Report_2014.pdf, viewed 23 January 2018.
Last updated March 2018