The debanking of defence companies supplying Western militaries is becoming so severe figures including the Secretary General of NATO have been compelled to appeal to the public to say they support banks having investments in weapons companies.
That Ukraine presently spends ten times the proportion of its GDP on defence that most European states do is a “harsh reminder that freedom does not come for free”, Rutte said, but also stating it was up to politicians and the public to ensure defence companies could actually provide what NATO militaries need to provide that deterrence at all, or at least as cost-effectively as possible.
This pressure pushes banks to not provide services to defence companies, with activists frequently citing nuclear weapon systems to equipment provided to particular countries left-wing campaign groups particularly dislike,. The campaign to slow or prevent Western arms companies from selling equipment to Israel has recently even broken out of simple letter-writing campaigns to
It stated the UK government’s business secretary will tell financial executives not to bow to “small but vocal campaign groups” and stated a fifth of smaller defence companies — which are often the most agile and innovative — have found being denied banking because they work in the military industry a “barrier to growth”.
The comments came as it was revealed that just two British banks had denied or shut down accounts to defence and aerospace companies at least 300 times in just one year. Tobias Ellwood, a former junior defence minister, a defence select committee chair, and Army Reserve lieutenant colonel: “Let’s not allow well-intentioned ESG standards to jeopardise our defence capabilities in a dangerous world – it’s time to get this sorted”.
In 2023, then-Defence Minister Grant Shapps outright called ESG policies a threat to the UK defence industry. He said: “This not only threatens an important part of the economy that, through MoD expenditure alone, directly and indirectly supports more than 200,000 jobs, but it fails to recognise that the UK’s defence industry is essential to protecting our way of life.”