Super funds more supportive of non-proliferation

Superannuation and pension funds have been found to be globally more supportive of non-proliferation than banks, according to a report.

A report by PAX and the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) on nuclear investment from financial institutions found globally there were eight super and pension funds that made it onto their ‘Hall of Fame' category, along with six banks, two financial services groups, and two insurance companies.

These firms were identified to have had comprehensive policies preventing investments in nuclear weapon producers.

Australian Ethical was the only Australian firm to make it on the ‘Hall of Fame' list as it did not invest in any nuclear associated companies and applied no revenue threshold for companies for manufacture of weapons, uranium mining, and nuclear generation.

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However, the report placed ANZ, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Macquarie Group, and Westpac and 386 other financial institutions in their ‘Hall of Shame' category.

The report found the institutions made an estimated $7.23 billion available to 27 nuclear weapon producing companies since January 2013.

ANZ made the largest investment at $2.7 billion, followed by Macquarie at $2.6 billion, Westpac at $1.3 billion, and CBA at $573 million.