New research commissioned by the corporate accountability group Ekō and conducted by Profundo, an independent research organization, finds that the insurance giant AXA has divested from all Israeli banks financing war crimes against Palestinians.
Click here to read the report "AXA: Investments in Israeli Banks Financing War Crimes".
Ekō's August 21, 2024 report analyzes AXA's investments in bonds and shares issued by Israel's five largest banks: Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Israel Discount Bank, First International Bank of Israel, and Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank. Each of these banks has been denounced by the United Nations and major human rights organizations for financing illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land, which are considered war crimes under international law.
Key findings:
Until September 30, 2023, AXA held over 2.5 million shares, worth $20.4 million US dollars, in Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, and Israel Discount Bank. New data and the sharp drops in our graphs despite steady or rising share prices reveal that AXA engaged in clear, fast, and intentional divestment from these complicit banks, divesting from them because of external pressure to stop being complicit in crimes against Palestinians, and not in response to market prices. By June 24, 2024, AXA’s shares in these banks had effectively dropped to zero.*
Graph showing AXA's number of shares in Israel's five largest banks, during the last six reporting quarters, through June 24, 2024.
The report also shows AXA has not reinvested in First International Bank of Israel or Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank since at least December 31, 2022. These two banks were previously targeted by Ekō in an earlier 2019 report revealing AXA’s financial complicity in Israeli war crimes.
Click here to read the report "AXA: Investments in Israeli Banks Financing War Crimes".
This report also lists the top 50 corporate investors in Israel's five largest banks, all of which finance illegal Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. This data may serve other organizations, activists, and journalists concerned with corporate complicity in the violation of human rights.
* Refinitiv's financial database still shows AXA has trace amounts of shares in Bank Leumi (US$130 thousand or 16,000 shares) as of June 24, 2024. Profundo attributes this residual amount to reporting delays and to internal accounting that remains to be completed, and considers this a full divestment.
More information
Ekõ. 1 February 2024.
Ekō. 23 April 2024.
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. 30 June 2023.
Human Rights Watch. 28 May 2018.
Ekō. 8 July 2019.