ASB Auckland branch shuts briefly amid protest over Gaza war

Tuesday, 5 November 2024

Stella Raedt from Justice for Palestine protests outside an ASB branch in Wellington on Tuesday.

ASB closed its branch in the upmarket Auckland shopping area of Newmarket as two polite women handed out flyers on the pavement protesting the bank’s KiwiSaver scheme investing in Motorola.

The protesters were from the Justice for Palestine Group, which is running a campaign to try and get ASB KiwiSaver customers to switch to other KiwiSaver schemes.

They say ASB KiwiSaver should not be investing in the shares of companies whose products and services enable what they call “Israel’s brutal and illegal occupation”.

Motorola supplies the Israeli Defence Force, and is listed by the responsible investing charity Mindful Money as being one of a handful of companies invested in by KiwiSaver funds which has supported Israel in the expansion of settlements.

Kate Stone from Justice for Palestine said the group had secured pledges from nearly 1500 people that they would switch their KiwiSaver money away from ASB, though she acknowledged some might not carry through on the request.

She said the group was surprised by ASB’s decision to close the branch in Newmarket, and also a branch in Whakatāne, as the awareness raising protests were polite and peaceable.

In Gaza, displaced Palestinians share mixed views on the U.S. election's potential to end the conflict. While some hold hope, others are doubtful, viewing the U.S. as a strong backer of Israel and its ongoing campaign.

“There was nothing aggressive going on,” she said.

On Monday, a more vigorous protest outside ASB in Lambton Quay in Wellington prompted the bank to temporarily close that branch.

ASB staff in the Newmarket branch said the bank had had a tip-off from the police, and there was concern the protest might be disruptive within the branch.

Because of that, in the run-up to the protest, customers were let in one by one, and then when the hour the protest was due to begin approached, the branch was closed, and customers ushered out through a back door.

Staff in the branch did not appear to feel threatened by the women outside who flew balloons and handed out leaflets, and explained their cause to people passing by, some of whom were attentive and some of whom were dismissive.

The divestment campaign from Justice for Palestine is aiming to get people to switch their KiwiSaver away from ASB.

Stone said ASB KiwiSaver had $14 million invested in Motorola, which meant “New Zealanders’ money is invested in a violent occupation, which the international Court of Justice defined as illegal under international law”.

ASB has been approached for comment.

The bank’s website said the bank was a responsible investor on its website, saying: “We exclude some investments, regardless of their financial performance, based on our exclusion framework.”

Among the “considerations” it took into account when making those decisions was whether international conventions opposed, or New Zealand laws prohibited, investment in an industry, such as manufacturers of cluster bombs, land mines or nuclear weapons“.

Other included companies engaged in activities “opposed to our own purpose and values”, or if “the majority of our customers that we survey have a strong desire not to invest in it”.

It could also exclude companies if they were “non-compliant with one or more of the United Nations Global Compact principles”.

The Palestine flag is reflected in the windows of ASB’s Lambton Quay branch on Monday as protestors gathered outside.

Stone said the first two of those principles centred on avoiding human rights abuses.

She said ASB was the target of the divestment campaign because it was one of the largest KiwiSaver providers, not because it was the only one investing in companies Justice for Palestine disapproved of.

Mindful Money has also been pushing KiwiSaver funds to sell out of companies listed by the UN as directly involved in constructing and financing settlements in Palestine.

In August, it said that investment in KiwiSaver funds in these companies increased by 20% in the six months to March 2024 to $85m.

Mindful Money founder Barry Coates said at the time: “The settlements on occupied Palestinian territories have been declared to be a gross violation of international human rights law.

“Palestinian people have been forcibly displaced from their land and homes, supported by the Israeli military and global companies. Investing in those companies may be legal for KiwiSaver and other investment funds, but it is certainly not an acceptable moral position.”

Stone said some KiwiSaver providers had taken action. ANZ had sold out of Caterpillar, whose equipment was used in the demolition of Palestinian houses in the expansion of Israeli settlements.

She said Westpac had sold out of four Israeli banks on the UN’s list.

In 2021, the government’s NZ Super Fund “excluded” five Israeli-owned banks, finding they did not meeting its responsible investing criteria, which included not investing in companies it believed breached the UN Global Compact principles.

It’s not the first time banks have faced protests calling on them to stop financing certain activities.

Pressure has come on them previously from protesters seeking an end to fossil fuel exploration and extraction.