Swedish banks in nuclear weapons 'hall of shame'

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http://www.thelocal.se/50712/20131010/

Swedish banks in nuclear weapons 'hall of shame'

Published: 10 Oct 2013 12:51 CET

By lending money to multinational defence firms, Swedish banks are supporting the existence of nuclear weapons, the only weapon of mass destruction which is yet to be banned, according to a new report published on Thursday.

"Any weapons that have a indiscriminate effect are controversial weapons and there is global obligation for disarmament. Banks have a role to play and our report shows that they can, and do, choose to avoid investment in controversial weapons," Susi Snyder, co-author of Don’t Bank on the Bomb, told The Local on Thursday.

"When customers find out that their money is being invested in nuclear weapons, they get angry. Banks can just as well invest in green energy, or beer," she said.

The report includes a 'Hall of Shame' of financial institutions that support multinational defence firms currently involved with the world’s nuclear arsenals. Swedish banks SEB and Svenska Handelsbanken are two of the firms named on the list.

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1. Head of Corporate Sustainability at SEB responded

A few more paragraphs from the article:

"This is an issue which we work on continually. We have an ongoing discussion and just at the moment the focus on this discussion is on the nuclear arms industry," Cecilia Widebäck West, Head of Corporate Sustainability at SEB, told The Local.

Widebäck West explained that the bank has recently decided to exclude firms connected to the nuclear arms industry from its share funds, explaining that the firm is "working hard to make a policy decision" regarding other areas of its business.

"These are complex issues and we have long term contracts and commitments with our customers which we must honour," she said.