Ready for war – economy

FRANKFURT. Between 2015 and 2017, German banks and investment fund companies indirectly supported arms deliveries in the Middle East, thus promoting the war in Yemen in particular. This is what human rights organizations and the Environment Facing Finance and Urgewald say in a study presented on Wednesday.

Ten out of ten banks investigated and German managers promoted arms companies that supply weapons to warring factions in Yemen. With only nine billion euros, banks would have helped these companies through loans and bonds between 2015 and 2017, said Thomas Küchenmeister, CEO of Facing Finance. Among other things, Thyssen-krupp was funded by underwater expeditions to Egypt and Rheinmetall with arms exports to five states, including Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, which are at war in Yemen.

Among the largest study Deutsche Bank. They gave eight of the ten companies surveyed loans totaling 1.9 billion euros. Commerzbank has declared loans and bonds of a volume of 1.75 billion to five defense companies between 2015 and 2017, of which Bayern-LB had paid 825 million, and between 74 and 112 million euros of Nord-LB, DZ Bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg and Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen. Facing Finance also considers that the KfW public development bank is active in the defense sector, including Rolls-Royce and ThyssenKrupp.

A spokesperson for Deutsche Bank said that the institution could not comment on individual relations with its clients. take. In case of any problem, contacts with companies and all stakeholders are taken into account

The study also states that German investment fund companies facilitate the holding of bonds, bonds and other liabilities. Shares and holdings by armament companies. Called the subsidiary Deutsche Bank DWS, Deka-Investment, the fund provider of savings banks, and Union Investment, the counterpart of the Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanken, as well as the alliance.

Faced with Finance and Urgewald, but admit that it is the figures given in the study are approximate. Due to bank secrecy and incomplete databases, the exact amount can not be determined.

Organizations ask savers to entrust their money only to sustainable development banks such as GLS, Umweltbank or Kirchenbanken. Savings banks and Volksbanks should be considered individually. "If you are a customer of a large German bank, you must immediately switch accounts," says Barbara Happe of Urgewald, or at least require a radical change in trade policy.