Latest installment of #BatshitBonkersBritain. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot (see what I did there?). All political references removed. And it's an utter joke (if that helps it fit with this thread) ....
Cutting edge British defence companies are being refused bank accounts by some of the UK’s biggest financial institutions
over ethical concerns,
The i Paper can reveal.
One company that makes critical armoured vehicles used by the British military, including by Special Forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, was turned down by
HSBC for a bank account whilst others have struggled to get loans or investment for future manufacturing. Often the reasons for a bank refusing to offer facilities are not given but
can be linked to involvement in potential “lethal” activities or not being “green” enough.
.... SC Group, which was previously known as Supacat, and has won contracts with the Ministry of Defence worth tens of millions of pounds, has said it has struggled to get any investments or loans
because it isn’t “green”. SC Chief Executive Nicholas Ames claims it was almost impossible to arrange a commercial loan to invest in future manufacturing in Britain because
lenders were only looking to finance green companies. .... Ames .. said “Every time we [approach] banks, debt funds or equity funds, they’re all going: ‘
we’ve all moved into [ethical investing], we’ve all moved into the green funds. Come back to us with something green.’”
A number of major defence companies have told
The i Paper of the problems they are facing being “debanked” by major institutions. The defence industry has long complained about so-called
environment, sustainabily and governance (ESG) red-tape that critics say guide investors away from the British defence sector.
Another major British defence firm, 4GD, which uses
AI and robots to help train British soldiers, said they had to stop attending investment meetings in the UK after being turned away once the hosts realised they worked in defence. The company is now considering relocating to the US and claims it currently has three US states pitching for them to move across the Atlantic. Robert Taylor, director of 4GD said that it has been turned down by every major lender for loans and has been forced to seek more expensive alternative funding that has resulted in 20 per cent of his revenues being used to service private finance loans. Mr Taylor said: “There are only probably one or two high street banks that have reliably offered bank accounts to defence companies. We have had a number of colleagues be debanked just before tenders, especially when there is a transition from what would be considered non-lethal to lethal work.” Mr Taylor’s firm has stopped seeking investment from British companies due to the trepidation around military work. He said: “We have basically, as a company, stopped going to investment meetings in the UK. They were just complete waste of time. We were turned away at meeting rooms. We’ve been turned away before the meetings. We’ve been turned away in the room. The second defence comes up: ‘Not interested. Sorry, can’t.”
The lack of financing is forcing UK firms to take investment from the US or Israel, providing further ethical risk and undermining the UK’s sovereignty and national security.