Hall of Fame and Runners-Up

More and more financial institutions have acknowledged that cluster munitions producers are not ethical or viable long-term business partners and have installed a public policy to end investments in these companies. We list good examples of financial institutions with such policies in the Hall of Fame and Runners-Up.

Financial institutions are listed in the Hall of Fame when they have installed and implemented a comprehensive policy banning all financial links with cluster munitions producers.

Some financial institutions have installed a policy on cluster munitions that shows certain shortcomings. These financial institutions are listed in the Runners-Up category. We commend the financial institutions in the Runners-Up category for their efforts while at the same time suggest ways to strengthen their policy.

[one_half][button size=medium style=less_round color=gray align=none]Download the 2018 Hall of Fame here[/button][/one_half]

[one_half_last][button size=medium style=less_round color=gray align=none]Download the 2018 Runners-Up here[/button][/one_half_last]

The financial institutions listed in the Runners-Up category took steps to ban investments in cluster munitions producers, but their policies regarding cluster munitions have certain flaws. We commend these financial institutions for their efforts while pointing out the remaining steps necessary to acquire a place in our Hall of Fame. The most common shortcomings are:

  • Taking only the financial institutions’ own involvement into account, not that of third parties
  • Exempting project financing for civil purpose
  • Exempting funds following an index


Methodology

Hall of Fame

To identify financial institutions with a policy on cluster munitions, PAX and research company Profundo analysed a variety of sources: NGO reports, screening-agency information, financial institutions’ reports and websites, information from campaigners worldwide and other public sources.

Since the banking group usually sets the investment policy and since this group directly or indirectly supervises its subsidiaries, we researched the group’s policy. We contacted all financial institutions in this list prior to publication to verify our research findings and to be sure we interpreted their policies correctly. Financial institutions that did not respond to our questions on their published policies were not included in this chapter. We only include policies publicly available at the time of writing.

Financial institutions must meet the following criteria to be included in our Hall of Fame:

  • It must be transparent and accountable on its cluster munitions policy. This means that the investor has published its policy and/or a summary of it.
  • Its policy must exclude investment in cluster munitions producers (recalling past investment and avoiding further investment).
  • The policy must have an ‘all-in’ comprehensive scope:
    • no exceptions for any type of cluster munitions producers
    • no exceptions for any type of activities by cluster munitions producers
    • no exceptions for any type of financing or investment

We researched investment in red flag companies for each financial institution in our Hall of Fame. This included shareholdings under the thresholds we use for the Hall of Shame. This is
because any investment at all in a cluster munitions producer is evidence of poor implementation of the policy excluding this. When we found evidence of financial links with cluster
munitions producers, we contacted the institution to confront it with our findings. When no new information was provided, we moved it from our Hall of Fame to the Runners-Up
category.

Runners-Up:

To be considered as a Runner-Up, financial institutions must have a policy excluding investment in cluster munitions producers and be transparent and accountable about it. This means that the investor has published its policy and/or a summary of it. However, the Runners-Up are not comprehensive in scope in that they do not yet meet all of the following criteria:

  • no exceptions for any type of cluster munitions producers
  • no exceptions for any type of activities by cluster munitions producers
  • no exceptions for any type of financing or investment

We contacted all the financial institutions in this list prior to publication to verify our research findings and to be sure we understood their policy correctly. Importantly, a financial institution can be applauded in the Runners-Up category for its policy, while at the same time being listed in the Hall of Shame for its investment. If that is the case, we note this explicitly.