‘Honour your heritage’, BYM tells Barclays
‘Barclays’ continuing relationship with arms companies complicit in the current violence in Gaza is entirely at odds with the modern values of the Quaker community the bank has roots in.'
Quakers have urged Barclays Bank to stop investing in companies supplying arms to Israel.
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM), wrote to Nigel Higgins, chairman of Barclays Bank PLC, asking him to ‘honour their shared history’. Barclays Bank was set up by two Quakers in 1690 but has not been Quaker-run since the late nineteenth century.
‘Barclays’ continuing relationship with arms companies complicit in the current violence in Gaza is entirely at odds with the modern values of the Quaker community the bank has roots in,’ wrote Paul Parker. ‘This is why we are asking you at this time to end investments in and provision of financial services to companies supplying arms and military equipment to Israel.’
Paul Parker asked Barclays for a meeting to explore ways forward.
The letter came ahead of Barclays’ AGM on 9 May. A blog on the Quakers in Britain website also describes how the bank talks of how it flourished because of Quakers’ reputation for integrity, and emphasises how key Quaker figures in Barclays sought to ‘live out their faith, by campaigning for the abolition of slavery and for prison reform’.
BYM also highlighted new research by War on Want, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, showing that Barclays holds over £2 billion in shares of arms companies, as well as providing over £6 billion in loans and underwriting to them. Since 2021 the bank has increased its shares in companies arming Israel by fifty-five per cent. It tripled its shares in Elbit Systems, which manufactures the Hermes 450 drone that killed seven aid workers on 2 April.
‘The violence in Gaza has escalated since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 hostage. Since then, over 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza,’ said the Quakers in Britain website. ‘This suffering is made possible by governments allowing the export of arms to Israel, and businesses providing the goods and services necessary for arms companies to operate.’
More than 2,500 customers – including Quakers – have closed their accounts with Barclays in protest.
Comments
I thoroughly endorse the BYM letter to Barclays, but would suggest that this has opened two additional strands upon which Barclays should be brought to task:
A. According to recent research, Barclays was Europe’s biggest fossil fuel financier, investing $24.2bn since the 2015 Paris accord.
1. Barclays has joined the list of businesses which are using their Quaker roots to “Quaker-wash” their reputation.
Whilst this demonstrates that the Quaker “brand” is sufficiently strong to offer PR benefits-by-association, I wonder whether Quakers should be asking companies such as Barclays and Mondelez (owners of Cadbury) to desist from referring to their long-abandoned Quaker roots.
This could be on the basis that we don’t want our reputation sullied by their unQuakerly activities? Perhaps there’s a legal path to be taken here.
By BruceJJCadbury on 16th May 2024 - 10:37
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