Banks| Policies| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2022-06-02 00:00:00
GFANZ must tighten the screw on fossil fuel expansion
2022-05-19 00:00:00
BNP Paribas and Société Générale: stop financing climate destruction and human rights abuses
2022-05-04 00:00:00
Barclays is big on beef and burning
2022-05-04 00:00:00
Standard Chartered’s 2022 AGM dominated by shareholder alarm over fossil financing
2022-05-20 15:14:47
Seven financiers abandon TotalEnergies' EACOP pipeline in a week
2021-12-16 13:33:02
Cambo oil field "paused" following pressure on Shell & banks
2021-12-16 13:04:42
Equator Principles improve transparency after BankTrack shows the way
2021-11-02 11:03:26
ANZ launches human rights grievance mechanism in a first for the global banking sector
Connect
2022-04-05 00:00:00
The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Asia
2022-03-30 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2022
2022-03-08 00:00:00
BankTrack Annual Report 2021
2022-03-03 00:00:00
Locked out of a Just Transition: fossil fuel financing in Africa
2021-12-14 00:00:00
Actions speak louder: Assessing bank responses to human rights violations
2021-10-26 00:00:00
Equator Compliant Climate Destruction: How banks finance fossil fuels under the Equator Principles
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Home › Blog
BNP Paribas under the spotlight for major exposure to companies supporting illegal Israeli settlements 
Start
Banks

By: Adrian Lakrichi – BankTrack
2022-02-04

Share this page:

Photo: Association France Palestine Solidarité
Go to:
Start
Related Banks

France’s largest bank, BNP Paribas, has been the target of a week of action this week highlighting its involvement in supporting Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which are almost universally considered a flagrant violation of international law. The bank saw demonstrations at its Paris headquarters and many branches across France and other European cities, and received thousands of letters of complaint.

The reason BNP is being targeted? Last September, the first report of the international “Don’t Buy into Occupation” coalition, of which BankTrack is a member, showed BNP Paribas to be Europe’s biggest lender to the 50 settlement-supporting companies covered in the report, by a significant margin.

In total BNP Paribas provided US$ 17.30 billion in loans and underwriting to the 27 of these 50 companies in recent years, almost 50% more than its nearest rival Deutsche Bank. Additionally, BNP Paribas invested in bonds and shareholdings worth a total amount of USD 3.34 billion in 30 companies involved with the illegal settlement enterprise, making BNP Paribas the twelfth largest investor identified in the report.

The companies supporting illegal settlements with BNP finance

The BNP Paribas clients covered in the research report range from companies in the digital tourism sector to companies that supply products supplied to the Israeli military or used in the demolition of Palestinian homes.

For example, from 2018 to May 2021 the bank provided USD 592 million in credit to Booking.com, the online hotel and travel booking platform, as well as lending to Tripadvisor and Airbnb. These companies all promote or provide booking services for hotels and holiday apartments in Israeli settlements, allowing people to take holidays on illegally settled land and profiting from this business. Despite years of engagement by civil society and inclusion in the UN’s database of companies supporting settlements, Booking.com is yet to publish a meaningful policy on its human rights due diligence, nor taken comprehensive steps to halt the promotion of services to illegal settlements.

BNP Paribas also provided USD 38 million to Elbit Systems, a company that supplies products and services to the Israeli military, Ministry of Interior and Police, including drones which are used during military operations in the occupied West Bank, and one of the main providers of the electronic detection fence system in the Separation Wall.

Additionally, BNP Paribas has provided large loans to the US-based Caterpillar and German-based HeidelbergCement, both of which are major construction companies that play a direct logistical role in the expansion of illegal settlements, as they are engaged in the construction and expansion of settlements. The French bank provided credit (loans and underwriting included) of USD 597 million to HeidelbergCement and USD 1.9 million to Caterpillar.  Who Profits states that Caterpillar equipment has been used for unlawful operations such as large-scale house demolitions,  land-clearing missions in Palestinian towns, and arrests or killings of Palestinian people.

Civil society raising concerns on BNP Paribas’ responsibility

The DBIO coalition’s engagement with BNP Paribas started before the report’s publication when the bank was offered the chance to comment on its position and involvement in Israeli settlements.

Having received no response from the bank’s headquarters in Paris, the coalition is taking action this week to increase the pressure of the bank to act. In December, the DBIO coalition organised protests against BNP Paribas with the aim of raising public awareness and adding public pressure to the bank. BNP’s headquarters in Paris was targeted as the main point of demonstration but actions took place in many municipalities in France and other European cities.

In addition, thousands of letters of complaint have been sent to BNP Paribas in which citizens around the world have expressed their concerns and disapproval with the bank’s involvement in the support for Israeli colonisation. In a series of actions in Belgium, a pile of those letters were delivered with a wheelbarrow to the French bank and its main Belgian shareholders.

BNP Paribas must act in accordance with its own human rights principles and policies: if companies cannot prove that they are withdrawing from activities that are illegal under international law within a reasonable period of time, BNP Paribas must divest from the companies in question.

Send a complaint letter to BNP Paribas urging them to take action in this matter.

For the latest news and updates, search for #DontBuyIntoOccupation on Twitter. To read and learn more about European financial investments in Israel’s illegal settlements, visit the coalition’s website for the full Don’t Buy Into Occupation report and other resources here.

Go to:
Start
Related Banks

Related banks

BNP Paribas France

active
Browse
Home
Banks
Policies
Dodgy Deals
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook
Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Twitter Fossil Banks No Thanks Instagram
Affiliate Websites
Fossil Banks No Thanks
StopEACOP
Forests & Finance
Banks & Biodiversity
Drop JBS
Bank of Coal
Don't Buy into Occupation
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted