New: Don’t Buy Into Occupation release 2022 report

The “Don’t Buy into Occupation” (DBIO) coalition is a joint project between 24 Palestinian, regional and European organisations based in Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom (UK). The coalition aims to investigate and highlight the financial relationships between business enterprises involved in the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and European financial institutions (FIs). Their new report is now out.

The main findings (taken direct from the report) are:

• Between January 2019 and August 2022, 725 European financial institutions, including banks, asset managers, insurance companies, and pension funds, had financial relationships with 50 businesses that are actively involved with Israeli settlements.
• During the analysed period, USD 171.4 billion was provided in the form of loans and underwritings. As of August 2022, European investors also held USD 115.5 billion in shares and bonds of these companies.
• All financial data mentioned in the report refer to the total investments
  (shares, bonds, loans and/or underwritings) in companies that have activities in the illegal settlements in the OPT. These companies may also conduct other activities outside of the settlements. Therefore, the coalition does not claim that the entirety of this capital exclusively flows to the settlement enterprise. However, investments in a company generally support that company in its entirety, thereby connecting the investor to the company’s overall activities, consequently linking it to all associated adverse impacts of these activities. Regardless of the size of the investment or the proportion of the capital flowing directly to the settlement industry, financial institutions have a responsibility to use their leverage, including with business enterprises causing or contributing to violations and abuses, to prevent, mitigate, and address such harm.
• The 50 companies for which this research found financial relationships with European financial institutions are: Airbnb; Alstom; Altice International; Ashtrom Group; Bank Hapoalim; Bank Leumi; Bezeq Group; Booking Holdings; Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF); Carrefour; Caterpillar; Cellcom Israel; Cemex; CETCO Mineral Technology Group; Cisco Systems; CNH Industrial; Delek Group; Delta Galil Industries; eDreams ODIGEO; Elbit Systems; Electra Group; Energix Renewable Energies; Expedia Group; First International Bank of Israel (FIBI); Hamat Group; Heidelberg Materials; Hyundai Heavy Industries; IBM; Israel Discount Bank; MAN Group; Matrix IT; Mivne Group; Mizrahi Tefahot Bank; Motorola Solutions; Partner Communications; Paz Oil Company; PUMA; Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing 2006; RE/MAX Holdings; Shapir Engineering and Industry; Shikun & Binui; Shufersal; Siemens; Solvay; Tripadvisor; TUI Group; Villar International; Vinci / Semi; Volvo Group; WSP Global.
• All 50 companies are involved in one or more of the “listed activities that raise particular human rights concerns”, which constitute the basis for inclusion in the UN database of business enterprises that are involved in Israeli settlements, which was published in February 2020.
• The Top 10 creditors (loans and underwritings) alone provided USD 124.32 billion to one or more of these 50 companies:
  1. BNP Paribas (France): USD 25.09 billion
  2. HSBC (United Kingdom): USD 15.04 billion
  3. Société Générale (France): USD 14.27 billion
  4. Deutsche Bank (Germany): USD 14.07 billion
  5. Barclays (United Kingdom): USD 12.29 billion
  6. KfW (Germany): USD 11.15 billion
  7. Santander (Spain): USD 9.46 billion
  8. Crédit Agricole (France): USD 9.09 billion
  9. UniCredit (Italy): USD 6.95 billion
  10. ING Group (Netherlands): USD 6.91 billion
• The Top 10 investors (shareholdings and bond holdings) alone invested USD 60.42 billion in one or more of these 50 companies:
  1. Government Pension Fund Global (Norway): USD 13.90 billion
  2. Crédit Agricole (France): USD 12.25 billion
  3. Groupe BPCE (France): USD 6.68 billion
  4. Deutsche Bank (Germany): USD 6.38 billion
  5. Legal & General (United Kingdom): USD 5.52 billion
  6. Allianz (Germany): USD 4.00 billion
  7. DZ Bank (Germany): USD 3.02 billion
  8. BNP Paribas (France): USD 3.01 billion
  9. AB Industrivärden (Sweden): USD 2.89 billion
  10. Nordea (Finland): USD 2.74 billion

To read the full report, including recommendations, please click here: 2022_11_29_DBIO-report-DEF.pdf (dontbuyintooccupation.org)