• 6 months after implementing ambitious anti-greenwash rule, regulator falls at first hurdle

• FCA says greenwash is a priority, but refuses to carry out investigation into high street banks

• Customers risk being misled by banks’ information, imagery, and claims on climate change

• Evidence mounts of major banks’ destructive activity and hypocrisy

Six months on from implementing its new anti-greenwash rule and stating that tackling greenwashing is a priority, the FCA has declined to carry out an investigation into greenwashing by the largest UK high street banks, as requested by campaign group Make My Money Matter.

This represents a failure to protect bank customers from greenwashing despite the regulator saying in its anti-greenwash guidance* that “74% of adults surveyed agreed that environmental issues are really important to them” and “we want to protect consumers against greenwashing so they can make informed decisions that are aligned with their sustainability preferences”.

The regulator issued a brief reply to the campaign group saying that “…the information that you have provided has been shared with colleagues who supervise the named firms to be considered as part of their supervision and engagement with them. However, we are not able to provide you with the detail of what use may or may not be made of this information”.

This opaque and weak response is inadequate at a time when catastrophic climate change is causing disasters across the globe, including recently in Valencia, Spain - and when there is continued evidence that our major high street banks are financing destructive companies and activities, contrary to their stated climate goals. It also comes at a time when the FCA is under scrutiny, with MPs labelling it “incompetent at best” (https://shorturl.at/X6pqY).

Some new evidence since Make My Money Matter wrote to the FCA on May 31 includes:

• The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has highlighted (https://shorturl.at/NjeOj) NatWest for “helping BP raise almost $500m last year in an apparent breach of its climate commitments”.

• Investigations (https://shorturl.at/Gefo4) into Barclays show that “it helped raise nearly $2bn for companies running highly polluting coal-fired power plants in the US, exposing an “enormous loophole” in its climate policy”.

• The Banking on Biodiversity Collapse report (https://shorturl.at/DQbT8) exposes Santander as the 4th biggest provider of finance to forest-risk commodity sector companies operating in Southeast Asia, South America, and West and Central Africa between 2018 and 2024 – at over $9bn.

Huw Davies, Senior Finance Advisor at Make My Money Matter, says: “Since the FCA implemented its new anti-greenwash rule we have seen yet more evidence of our high street banks financing harm, and climate catastrophe on our doorstep in Valencia. The regulator must now act to protect the public from being misled by banks, and we call again on the FCA to show that it means business by investigating greenwashing at Barclays, HSBC, Santander, NatWest, and Lloyds”.

- ENDS -

Notes:

Make My Money Matter in its 31 May letter to regulators specifically called out for review:

Financing: The mismatch between banks’ promotion of climate statements and 1.5 degree alignment, with the real-world activity and companies they continue to finance which are not aligned to those publicly stated climate objectives

Communications and Transparency: The imagery and relative prominence of climate and sustainability in publicly available brand assets, in contrast to a lack of transparency around their unsustainable financed activity – which could create a misleading picture to the public

*FG24/3: Finalised non‑handbook guidance on the Anti‑Greenwashing Rule

Contact:

Huw Davies, Senior Finance Adviser - Make My Money Matter - 07841 509849 - huw@makemymoneymatter.co.uk

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