ePetition details
B&NES Council - Move Your Money Petition
We the undersigned petition the council to Move the bank account of B&NES from NatWest, a subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland, (RBS) to an ethical alternative. Aside from playing a significant role in the recent banking crisis, RBS has a history of financing arms dealers and environmentally destructive companies. Ethical alternatives, such as the Co-operative and Triodos, offer similar financial services to the High Street banks while being more responsible with their investments.
RBS financial support of the arms trade:
In October 2010, RBS was part of a banking syndicate that provided the American arms manufacturer Alliant Techsystems (which is known to manufacture cluster bombs) with a $1bn (£600m) five-year credit facility. RBS is also a principal banker of a number of companies involved in the arms trade, including BAE Systems, Rolls Royce, Babcock and Ultra Electronic.
In 2011 the bank was also involved in a dubious networking event entitled "Middle East, a vast market for UK defence and security companies". Campaigners condemned the conference as evidence British arms companies were prepared to continue selling to authoritarian regimes in the Middle East despite the frequent use of both deadly and non-lethal weaponry to quell popular dissent during the Arab Spring.
RBS involvement in environmentally detrimental fossil fuel extraction:
In 2011 RBS was named by The Ecologist as one of the worst banks
involved in financing fossil fuel companies.
RBS have been involved in the Madagascar tar sands project, which
the Word Development Movement claim will have the water supply of
over 120,000 people disrupted and poisoned. Ethical Consumer have
called a boycott against Royal Bank of Scotland for its involvement
in the financing of the tar sands projects in Alberta, Canada,
which is devastating communities, wildlife and vast areas of
forests, as well as being many times more carbon-intensive to
produce than ‘conventional’ oil.
Ethical Banks (possible alternatives):
The Co-operative Bank (of which Britannia is a part) offers the same services as the other high street banks, however it has ethical policies on environmental, international development and animal welfare issues, as well as being proactive in lending to small businesses. Ethical Consumer state in 2012 that "none come close to the Co-operative for clarity and ambition.” The co-operative also offers the same financial guarantees as the other high street banks.
The ethical bank Triodos only lends money to people and organisations making a positive impact - culturally, socially and environmentally. They have been involved in financing renewable energy and are completely open about how they use their customers' money.
For more information:
This ePetition ran from 04/02/2012 to 05/08/2012 and has now finished.
87 people signed this ePetition.