Five of the UK’s biggest banks are likely investing customers’ money in animal cruelty, according to a report by World Animal Protection UK.
The “Banking on Welfare” report scrutinised Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Metro Bank and Santander and found that none of them had a dedicated animal welfare policy. Triodos, Standard Chartered, The Co-operative bank, NatWest, and Virgin Money scored higher for animal welfare, with Triodos highlighting animal welfare in a greater number of policy documents than all other banks.
Research specialists Profundo assessed the banks using the 2023 Fair Finance Guide Methodology, which evaluates the policies of financial institutions on 21 sustainability themes, including animal welfare.
Polling of 2000 UK consumers by World Animal Protection revealed that 3 in 5 want all banks to have an animal welfare policy, while nearly half of people would move where they bank to ensure their money is NOT used in investments that may be cruel to animals. Over half of people would rather have a lower rate of interest than a bank that invested in animal cruelty.
Lindsay Duncan, World Animal Protection Farming Campaigns Manager, said: “By not having a dedicated animal welfare policy, these banks are likely to be investing their customers’ money into cruel practices such as industrial scale factory farming. We are calling on customers to write to their bank urging them to put in place a dedicated animal welfare policy to stop them investing in animal cruelty.”
World Animal Protection estimates that globally each year, more than 80 billion animals are used for farming, with 69 billion chickens reared and killed for their meat and 1.5 billion pigs trapped in intensive farming conditions.
Customers can write to their bank calling on them to have a dedicated animal welfare policy here.
Derick is an experienced reporter having held multiple senior roles for large publishers across Europe. Specialist subjects include small business and financial emerging markets.