Worldwide investments in CLUSTER MUNITIONS
report-worldwide_investments_cluster_munitions-2016
report-worldwide_investments_cluster_munitions-2016
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2.2.18 Folksam (Sweden)<br />
Folksam is a Swedish <strong>in</strong>surance company that offers a wide variety of <strong>in</strong>surance, sav<strong>in</strong>gs, pensions and<br />
loan products. Folksam serves approximately four million customers. 453<br />
Folksam does not <strong>in</strong>vest <strong>in</strong> companies <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> tobacco and illegal weapons such as cluster munitions,<br />
anti-personnel m<strong>in</strong>es and nuclear weapons. 454 The exclusion policy applies to all commercial bank<strong>in</strong>g and<br />
asset management activities, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g those managed by external asset managers. 455 However, Folksam<br />
does not fully apply the exclusion policy to <strong>in</strong>dex-l<strong>in</strong>ked products managed by external managers. Folksam<br />
<strong>in</strong>dicates it is “work<strong>in</strong>g to m<strong>in</strong>imize exposure and to identify effective solutions” to this problem. 456<br />
Folksam’s publicly available exclusion list conta<strong>in</strong>s the follow<strong>in</strong>g companies for <strong>in</strong>volvement <strong>in</strong> cluster<br />
munitions: General Dynamics, Lockheed Mart<strong>in</strong>, Raytheon and Textron. 457<br />
How to ga<strong>in</strong> a place <strong>in</strong> the Hall of Fame?<br />
To be listed <strong>in</strong> the Hall of Fame, Folksam should extend its policy to cover all externally managed <strong>in</strong>dexl<strong>in</strong>ked<br />
products.<br />
2.2.19 Handelsbanken (Sweden)<br />
Svenska Handelsbanken AB is a Swedish full-service bank<strong>in</strong>g group, operat<strong>in</strong>g nationwide branches <strong>in</strong><br />
six home markets: Denmark, F<strong>in</strong>land, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United K<strong>in</strong>gdom. 458<br />
Handelsbanken’s Policy for Responsible Investment states that Handelsbanken excludes companies <strong>in</strong>volved<br />
<strong>in</strong> the production or distribution of weapons banned under <strong>in</strong>ternational law, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g cluster munitions<br />
under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. 459<br />
Handelsbanken’s policy on cluster munitions applies to commercial bank<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>in</strong>vestment bank<strong>in</strong>g and all<br />
<strong>in</strong>ternally managed active funds. The Policy for Responsible Investment states that “it <strong>in</strong>cludes our funds<br />
and portfolios’ direct <strong><strong>in</strong>vestments</strong> <strong>in</strong> Swedish and foreign equities and corporate bonds.” 460 Handelsbanken<br />
makes an exception for funds that follow an <strong>in</strong>dex: “When decid<strong>in</strong>g on exclusion, <strong>in</strong>dex funds may be<br />
exempt if the <strong>in</strong>vestment is important to the fund’s ability to reflect the underly<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dex.” 461<br />
Handelsbanken states that currently the companies identified are small <strong>in</strong> the underly<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>dex.462<br />
Handelsbanken does not apply the policy to its external asset managers.463<br />
Handelsbanken makes use of an exclusion list which it publishes on its webpage. Companies excluded for<br />
<strong>in</strong>volvement <strong>in</strong> cluster munitions or anti-personnel m<strong>in</strong>es are: Aerojet Rocketdyne, Aeroteh, Aryt Industries,<br />
Doosan Corporation, General Dynamics, Hanwha Corporation, L-3 Communications, Motovilikha Plants,<br />
Lockheed Mart<strong>in</strong>, Poongsan Corporation, S&T Dynamics, S<strong>in</strong>gapore Technologies Eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g, Textron and<br />
Temasek F<strong>in</strong>ancial. 464<br />
How to ga<strong>in</strong> a place <strong>in</strong> the Hall of Fame?<br />
To ga<strong>in</strong> a place <strong>in</strong> the Hall of Fame, Handelsbanken should apply the exclusion policy to all external asset<br />
managers. The policy should also exclude the option of <strong>in</strong>vest<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>dex funds where a cluster munitions<br />
producer makes up a percentage, no matter how small, of the <strong>in</strong>dex.<br />
2.2.20 HSBC (United K<strong>in</strong>gdom)<br />
HSBC, orig<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g from the United K<strong>in</strong>gdom, is a major bank<strong>in</strong>g and f<strong>in</strong>ancial services <strong>in</strong>stitution. It offers<br />
services <strong>in</strong> retail bank<strong>in</strong>g and wealth management, commercial bank<strong>in</strong>g, global bank<strong>in</strong>g and global private<br />
bank<strong>in</strong>g. HSBC operates <strong>in</strong> 72 countries, serv<strong>in</strong>g about 48 million customers worldwide. 465<br />
172