Who divests?

Policy Research

The financial institutions presented all have publicly available policies – or summaries thereof – excluding investments in nuclear weapons producing companies. Since the banking group usually sets the investment policy and since the group directly or indirectly supervises its subsidiaries, we research the group policy only.

The Hall of Fame section highlights financial institutions that have comprehensive policies preventing investments in nuclear weapon producers. These policies meet all of the criteria.
The Runners-up section profiles financial institutions who have a policy in place but whose policy contains one or more loopholes, and makes recommendations for how to strengthen the policies.

Hall of Fame

  1. ABP (The Netherlands)
  2. Active Super (Australia) NEW!
  3. AIB Group plc (Ireland) NEW!
  4. AIMCo (Canada) NEW!
  5. AkademikerPension (Denmark) (formerly known as MP Pension)
  6. Aktia (Finland) NEW!
  7. Alternative Bank Schweiz (Switzerland)
  8. Andra AP-Fonden AP2 (Sweden)
  9. APG (The Netherlands)
  10. ASR (The Netherlands)
  11. Australian Ethical (Australia)
  12. Banca Etica (Italy)
  13. Bank Australia (Australia)
  14. Bank für Kirche und Caritas (Germany)
  15. Bank of Ireland (Ireland) NEW!
  16. Banorte (Mexico) NEW!
  17. BpfBOUW (The Netherlands)
  18. Christian Super (Australia) NEW!
  19. Co-Operative Bank (United Kingdom)
  20. Crescent Wealth (Australia) NEW!
  21. De Volksbank (The Netherlands)
  22. DNB (Norway)
  23. Domini (United States)
  24. Elo (Finland) NEW!
  25. Ethos (Switzerland)
  26. Fjärde AP-Fonden (AP4) (Sweden)
  27. Folksam (Sweden)
  28. Fonds de Compensation (Luxembourg)
  29. Första AP-Fonden (AP1) (Sweden)
  30. Future Super (Australia)
  31. Government Pension Fund – Norway (Norway)
  32. Green Century (United States)
  33. Harrington Investments, Inc (United States) NEW!
  34. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company (Finland) NEW!
  35. J. Safra Sarasin Group (Switzerland) NEW!
  36. KBC (Belgium)
  37. Kiwi Wealth (Aotearoa/ New Zealand) NEW!
  38. KLP (Norway)
  39. Menzis (The Netherlands)
  40. NIBC (The Netherlands)
  41. PenSam (Denmark)
  42. Pensioenfonds Horeca & Catering (The Netherlands)
  43. Pensioenfonds Rail & Openbaar Vervoer (Rail & OV) (The Netherlands)
  44. Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (The Netherlands)
  45. PFA (Denmark)
  46. PGGM (The Netherlands)
  47. Philips Pension Fund (The Netherlands)
  48. PME (The Netherlands)
  49. PNO Media (The Netherlands)
  50. Publica (Switzerland) NEW!
  51. Rabobank (The Netherlands)
  52. Sjunde AP-fonden (AP7) (Sweden)
  53. Stichting Pensioenfonds voor de Woningcorporaties (The Netherlands)
  54. Storebrand (Norway)
  55. SUSI Partners (Switzerland) NEW!
  56. Triodos Bank (The Netherlands)
  57. U Ethical (Australia) NEW!
  58. Verve Super (Australia) NEW!
  59. Zevin Asset Management (United States)

Runners-Up

  1. ABN AMRO (The Netherlands)
  2. Achmea (The Netherlands)
  3. Aegon (The Netherlands)
  4. AMF (Sweden)
  5. ATP (Denmark) NEW!
  6. Aviso Wealth (Canada)
  7. Aviva (United Kingdom) NEW!
  8. Azzad Asset Management (United States)
  9. Barclays (United Kingdom)
  10. BBVA (Spain)
  11. BNP Paribas (France)
  12. CIMB (Malaysia) NEW!
  13. Commerzbank (Germany)
  14. Crédit Agricole (France)
  15. Credit Suisse (Switzerland)
  16. Danske Bank (Denmark)
  17. DeGroof Petercam Asset Management (DPAM) (Belgium) NEW!
  18. Deutsche Bank (Germany)
  19. Erste Group (Austria) NEW!
  20. Figure 8 Investment Strategies (United States) NEW!
  21. Government Pension Fund Global (Norway)
  22. ING (The Netherlands)
  23. Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy)
  24. Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) (Germany) NEW!
  25. Länsförsäkringar (Sweden)
  26. NatWest Group (formerly Royal Bank of Scotland) (United Kingdom)
  27. New Zealand Superannuation Fund (New Zealand)
  28. NN Group (The Netherlands)
  29. Nordea (Sweden)
  30. Nykredit (Denmark)
  31. Parnassus Investments (U.S.) NEW!
  32. Pensioenfonds APF (The Netherlands)
  33. Pictet (Switzerland) NEW!
  34. PKA (Denmark)
  35. Royal Bank of Canada (Canada)
  36. SEB (Sweden)
  37. Standard Chartered (United Kingdom)
  38. Swedbank (Sweden)
  39. Tredje AP-Fonden AP3 (Sweden)
  40. Unicredit (Italy)
  41. Van Lanschot Kempen (The Netherlands)
  42. VDK Bank (Belgium)

Criteria:

Hall of Fame financial institution policies policy must:

1. Exclude all nuclear weapon associated companies

The policy excludes:

  • whole companies not only nuclear weapons related projects
  • companies associated with nuclear weapons including through joint ventures
  • companies regardless of their country of origin
  • companies regardless their country of operation

2. Exclude all nuclear weapon associated activities

The policy excludes companies associated with:

  • development, testing, production, maintenance or trade of nuclear weapons related technology, parts, products or services, and;
  • delivery systems such as missiles, that are specifically developed for nuclear tasks. This includes technology that is designed for ‘dual use’ (military and civilian) but excludes technology that is not designed for, but can be used in nuclear warfare. It does not include delivery platforms such as bombers and submarines.

3. Apply to all the institution’s products and services

The institution applies the policy:

  • for the entire Group, including subsidiaries
  • in all markets
  • to all asset management classes – passive and active, internal and external.
  • to all existing and future investments.

The financial institutions in the Hall of Fame have not engaged in any financial relationships with any of the nuclear weapon associated companies listed in this report. The policies of over 80 financial institutions were analysed for this report.

Runners-Up are financial institutions whose nuclear weapons policy does not meet all of the above criteria .

4. Implementation check

Each of the financial institutions listed in the Hall of Fame underwent an implementation check to find out whether the institution has any investments in any nuclear weapon producers, as any investment in a nuclear weapon producer can be evidence of poor implementation of the exclusion policy. When evidence of financial links with nuclear weapon producers was found, efforts to contact the institution to clarify were made. Outstanding investments in nuclear weapon producing companies require reclassification to the Runners-Up.

Methodology

To identify financial institutions with a policy on nuclear weapons, we research a variety of sources: NGO reports, screening-agency information, financial institution reports and websites, information from campaigners and other public sources. For practical reasons, the scope of this report is limited to those financial institutions that have an investment policy or a summary of that policy in English. The list of institutions in the Hall of Fame is not exhaustive. We welcome additions from those able to provide them.

For the purposes of this report, nuclear weapon producers are defined as companies that produce key components to test, develop, maintain, modernise and deploy nuclear weapons. There are countless companies involved in the broad nuclear weapons complex, and this report only details those most heavily involved in the production and maintenance of nuclear warheads and their delivery systems (such as missiles and launch tubes). The report does not include companies involved in the production of delivery platforms (such as nuclear capable bombers and submarines).

In advance of this report, efforts to contact all financial institutions to answer a series of standardised questions about the scope and content of their policies were made. Of the financial institutions listed in the Hall of Fame, several publish a list of companies that they exclude from their investment universe. The companies excluded are noted in the profiles of the financial institutions as a resource. Some financial institutions in the Hall of Fame work with an inclusion list rather than an exclusion list, while others do not make their lists public.

Each financial institution profile includes a brief description of the institution, a summary of key policy elements, and the exclusion list if applicable. We researched investments in companies on our producers list for each of the financial institutions listed in the Hall of Fame. The Runners-Up includes a recommendation for improvement. None of the financial institutions listed in the Hall of Fame invest in any of the identified nuclear weapon producers.