This page gives an overview of OECD Guidelines complaints with results of particular relevance to private sector banks. For a full overview of OECD complaints relating to the financial sector, see the OECD Watch case database.
ING’s violation of the OECD Guidelines on climate change
Filed in May 2017 and concluded with an agreement in April 2019, the Dutch NCP in this complaint stated that the OECD Guidelines demand that ING Bank must set concrete climate goals for its financial services that are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. The parties reached an agreement on several points. Firstly, ING will adopt the Terra approach, with the underlying PACTA and PCAF methodologies, to measure, set targets, and steer the bank’s climate impact. Secondly, ING committed to reduce its thermal coal exposure to close to zero by 2025 and refrain from financing new coal-fired power plants. Thirdly, ING would collaborate with BankTrack, Greenpeace, Milieudefensie, and Oxfam Novib to call upon the Dutch Government to request the International Energy Agency to develop as soon as possible two models that both provide a 66% chance to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees. This complaint saw the Dutch NCP take a clear position on climate goals for the first time.
Credit Suisse’s business relations and financial investment with North Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)
Filed in April 2017 and concluded with an agreement in October 2019, Credit Suisse agreed to update its internal guidelines on project financing. Credit Suisse agreed to incorporate language on project financing for the oil & gas, mining, and forestry & agribusiness sectors to set an expectation for clients to demonstrate alignment with the key objectives and requirements of the International Finance Corporation Performance Standard 7 – Indigenous Peoples, which incorporates the principles of FPIC. The parties also agreed that the Swiss NCP would follow-up to ensure Credit Suisse’s implementation of its commitment. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) noted that Credit Suisse’s compliance with FPIC is limited only to project financing, excluding company financing and stock broking, therefore it is only a small step in the right direction when it comes to comprehensive protection of indigenous communities.
ANZ’s role in displacing and dispossessing Cambodian families
Filed in October 2014 and concluded in June 2018, the Australian NCP stated that ANZ needs to strengthen its due diligence mechanisms and establish a grievance mechanism. The NCP made several recommendations to ANZ, including that ANZ takes steps to promote internal compliance with its own corporate standards and to visibly demonstrate the proper application of the standards to ensure they are in line with the OECD Guidelines. However, the NCP failed to call on the bank to provide concrete remedies for the harms to which it contributed, meaning that BankTrack and OECD Watch further pushed the bank to provide remedy by sending a letter to ANZ’s director. In February 2020, five years after the complaint was filed, ANZ agreed to provide a financial package to the Cambodian families that were forcibly displaced by the sugar company ANZ loaned money to. This has set a human rights precendent for the global banking sector.
Rabobank's loans to palm oil company Bumitama
Filed in June 2014 and concluded in January 2016 by Friends of the Earth, the complaint resulted in a commitment by Rabobank will modify its complaints procedure. The NCP stressed that financial institutions have a responsibility to exercise leverage to seek to prevent or mitigate the impact of their business conduct, to increase their leverage on their own clients if necessary, and respond to identified adverse impacts through engagement or, as last resort, divestment. The NCP further urged companies to develop their own policies towards genuine sustainable production of palm oil.
POSCO's involvement in HR and environmental impact in India
Filed in October 2012 against POSCO, the Dutch pension fund ABP and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global. The case set an important precedent regarding the applicability of the OECD Guidelines to the financial sector. The Dutch NCP confirmed that the OECD Guidelines also apply to minority shareholding of financial institutions.
