Cbus, one of Australia's largest superannuation funds, is reviewing its investment policy after pressure from a major union.
He had called on the Fund to stop investing in companies that supply Israel with weapons and defense technology. Cbus, among other things, manages employee pensions in the Australian construction sector. The fund said it was taking this step to address “community concerns about the conflict and loss of life in Gaza and Israel.”
Cbus already excludes direct investments in some weapons manufacturers. But the fund still invests in defense-related companies such as Lockheed Martin and RTX. The Fund is now examining whether this is still desirable and whether it can tighten investment criteria further.
Places of residence
In the Netherlands, pension funds have also come under criticism in relation to the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip. For example, petition platform DeGoedeZaak has been running online petitions for some time to persuade the ABP Civil Servants Fund and the PFZW Healthcare Fund to no longer invest in companies operating in Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories. These petitions have been signed a total of about 3,700 times.
In December, PAX also compiled a list of European financial organizations that in recent years have invested in companies carrying out illegal activities in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. ING was in the top ten and, according to the research, invested €6.6 billion in companies active there between January 2020 and August 2023. For example, lenders financed Booking.com and Airbnb, which offered accommodation in illegally occupied territories.
Wrong leg
ING states that it has no offices or employees in the region, “neither in Israel nor in the Palestinian territories.” The Bank also confirms that it does not finance infrastructure, construction, industrial, agricultural or surveillance activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
An ING spokesperson believes the PAX report has been misleading to the public. “PAX collects in its report all loans to 51 multinational companies, ranging from travel organizations to supermarket chains and technology companies. These multinational companies use these loans in their global activities, but PAX gives the impression in its communications that ING provides services to billions of companies in the territories.” “occupied.”
