DutchNews.nl, June 18, 2015
Eight of the 10 biggest
life insurance companies in the Netherlands are investing in the more unsavoury
side of the arms trade, according to a new insurer comparison website set up by
Dutch aid groups.
In total, the eight firms have €6.8bn invested in 15 arms
manufacturers which sell to dictators and corrupt countries, the Eerlijke Verzekeringwijzer claims.
The research is based on the 2010-2014 period. It
focuses on life insurance companies which are active in the Netherlands and
arms companies which break weapons embargoes, sell to governments in conflict
zones or to what are considered corrupt regimes.
Most of the sales centre on
Saudi Arabia. ‘All eight insurance companies put money into companies which
sell, for example, military helicopters, tanks, cluster bombs or radar systems
to Saudi Arabia,’ Suzanne Oosterwijk of aid group PAX said.
‘This is a country
which uses banned cluster bombs in Yemen and is known for its appalling human
rights situation. No decent insurance company wants to be involved in that.’
APG
Achmea and ASR are the only two insurance companies not to invest in the
arms traders under investigation.
Top of the list is Germany’s Allianz,
followed by Britain’s Legal & General and Dutch civil service pension fund
asset manager APG, which has almost €1bn invested in controversial arms
manufacturers, the report states.
Aegon, NN Group and Generali make up the next
batch, while Delta Lloyd and SNS Real have minor investments.
An accompanying
opinion poll carried out by Motivaction shows two-thirds of the Dutch think it
‘unacceptable’ for their insurance company to invest in arms companies which
trade with corrupt or otherwise suspect regimes.
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