UBS among leading non-US investors in nuclear weapons producers, says study

UBS was the 9th biggest non-US investor, according to the ICAN study. Keystone-SDA

The number of financial institutions funding major nuclear weapons manufacturers continues to fall, a new report shows. The Swiss bank UBS bank is one of the top 30 investors.

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UBS has injected close to $2.5 billion (CHF2.2 billion) in the form of shares or bonds, according to a report published by the Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Atomic Weapons (ICAN). UBS was the 9th biggest non-US investor. The Swiss bank also granted loans or subscriptions worth over $3 billion.

Last year, a total of 260 institutions had financing or investment relations with one or more of the 24 nuclear weapon producing companies. This figure has fallen by 27 over the space of one year, and by more than 70 since the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons came into force in 2021. Loans also fell by $6 billion to under $270 billion.

This situation “shows the power of the treaty to make these inhumane and indiscriminate weapons inhuman”, according to ICAN Executive Director Melissa Parke. Despite this, the value of holdings or bonds in the main nuclear weapons manufacturers rose to $513 billion.

Switzerland has still not joined the above-mentioned treaty, despite a motion approved by parliament.

ICAN, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, launched a popular initiative in July in response to this situation. Nearly half of the world’s states have ratified the agreement, signed it or said they would do so.

A group of over 130 investor institutions, four of which are Swiss, supports the ban treaty. These entities manage more than $4 trillion in assets.

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

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