Do You Know Where Banks Are Investing YOUR Money?

[temi]

New research today reveals that all of Britainâ??s main high street banks are using customersâ?? money to finance the weapons industry, including the sale of cluster bombs which kill and maim innocent civilians. The report, launched by the anti-poverty charity War on Want as UN Disarmament Week starts, exposes for the first time how the lenders back the arms trade with billions of pounds from consumersâ?? savings and current accounts. War on Want says its evidence will increase public mistrust of banks, which has soared amid the current financial crisis. The charity is calling on the British government to move towards regulation that would stop high street banks funding the arms trade. War on Want says banks are making a killing from a weapons industry which fuels conflict, poverty and human rights abuses around the world in countries such as Israel, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The study is drawn from databases AMADEUS and ORBIS that until now have only been seen by the financial sector and a select number of academics. Both HSBC and Barclays invest in companies that produce cluster munitions and depleted uranium. In the last decade HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and Barclays have provided loans to at least one producer of cluster munitions. According to HSBCâ??s corporate social responsibility policy, the bank claims to â??avoid certain types of business, such as financing weapons manufacture and salesâ??. Yet HSBC is main banker to UK arms firms BAE Systems and Meggitt, holds shares in the global weapons industry totalling £450.6 million and over the last 10 years has been part of 43 syndicated loans to the arms sector worth £27.1 billion. Each of the banks hold shares in all of Britainâ??s top arms firms, with Barclaysâ?? holdings in the global arms sector worth £7.3 billion. The Royal Bank of Scotland heads the lendersâ?? funding of weapons companies, at £44.6 billion in the past decade. All five top lenders act as principal banker to at least two of the leading British arms manufacturers. Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are bankers to four of the biggest ten firms. Last year the UK topped the list of global arms exporters with a record £10 billion ($19 billion) in orders, more than any other country. According to the UN, civilians represent nine in 10 people killed or wounded in armed conflict. Ruth Tanner, Director of Campaigns and Policy at War on Want, said: â??People have seen the mess that the banks have made with customersâ?? money. But few know they are using our cash to fund arms companies. The British government must introduce regulation to stop banks making a killing from the arms trade.â?? You can see the report here

More... (/news/item/do_you_know_where_your_bank_is_investing_your_mone y/)