Banks and animal exploitation

How are banks funding animal exploitation?

Banks are behind almost every industry in the world, through their loans, insurance and other kinds of financing. They fund companies involved in the exploitation and abuse of animals, such as industrial meat companies, factory farming, or pharmaceutical companies involved in animal testing.

Animal protection organisation Sinergia Animal says,

“If your bank doesn’t have a strong policy against shady practices such as animal testing and mutilations of animals in factory farms, they might actually be financing these activities!”

By providing funding to these companies, they are not only financing animal exploitation now, they are financing it well into the future.

For example, if a bank funds a company building new mega dairies, they help build the infrastructure for the factory farming of animals for many years to come. Banks therefore have the power to lock us into more exploitative, or fairer systems, depending on the choices they make.

Banks are also inadvertently shaping the world for animals through their approaches to the climate and nature. Since the Paris Agreement, the world’s 60 largest banks have provided USD $4.6 trillion in financing to the fossil fuel industry. As WWF says, climate change “has the potential to result in catastrophic species loss”, meaning that millions of animals could die.

Banks have also been linked to the destruction of specific habitats, such as the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin.

Which banks are involved in animal exploitation?

Unfortunately, many UK banks have a notoriously poor track record when it comes to ethics. Many financial decisions are made without much (if any) consideration of social, animal or environmental criteria. Given the scale of animal exploitation around the world, this means lots of banks are likely to be funding the companies involved.

In our ethical bank accounts guide, over 60% of banks lost a half or whole mark in Animal Rights, Factory Farming and Animal Testing.

Likewise, a 2021 report by Shifting Values found,

“Almost half of the banks and investors evaluated have no policy to prevent the worst forms of animal cruelty when deciding on their loans and funding. Only one in ten banks obtained more than half of the total achievable score.”

Of the banks looked at in the Shifting Values report, Triodos was found to be the major exception.

Which banks are the worst for animal exploitation?

All five of the major high street UK banks – Barclays, HSBC, Santander, Lloyds and NatWest – lost marks under Animal Rights, Factory Farming and Animal Testing in our ratings. Barclays was found to fund the notorious meat producer JBS, which owns slaughterhouses and has been linked to serious deforestation of the Amazon.

Barclays, BlackRock (owns 10% of Janus Henderson), Citigroup (Citibank), HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest Group and Banco Santander are all named in recent reports on factory farming and/or habitat destruction, which we discuss in more detail below.

The Lloyds Banking Group includes Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Birmingham Midshires, Scottish Widows, among others.

The Natwest Group includes Natwest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, and Coutts among others.

What can consumers do about banks and animal exploitation?

1. Find out how your bank is doing

Our guides to Ethical Bank Accounts, Ethical Savings Accounts and Ethical Business Banking rate and rank over 35 companies on Animal Rights, Factory Farming and Animal Testing. Our rating looks at both their ethical policies and their actual investments, so you can find out what your bank is actually doing when it comes to animal exploitation.

You can find all our ethical money guides from the main ethical finance section.

2. Consider switching to a more ethical bank

Switching accounts is remarkably quick and easy. Within just seven days, all your money could be transferred to a company that will not exploit animals for profit.

If you set up an account with a new bank, it will usually ask you if you want to switch accounts from an existing one. It is then up to the bank to move all your money, direct debits and standing orders over, as well as closing your existing account. Any money paid into your old account should be automatically forwarded for the next three years.

3. Tell your bank why you’ve switched

Companies really care what consumers think, especially when it’s affecting their bottom line. If enough of us tell companies that funding the exploitation of animals is unacceptable, practice may eventually change.

If you are switching accounts for ethical reasons and want to write to your previous bank to let them know why, we have published a template letter for you to use.