ASB
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OVERALL |
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Owned |
AUS |
Rating |
N/A |
Bank
One of New Zealand's big 4 banks.
Company Ownership
ASB Bank | NZL | website | ||||
Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd
owns 100% of ASB Bank |
AUS | website | ||||
Bank One of Australia's Big Four banks. |
Company Assessment
PRAISE | CRITICISM | INFORMATION | ||
ASB Bank | ||||
This company has environment and climate change claims in a statement about committing to reduce their climate change impact and expecting suppliers to be aware of their climate impact and to take action.
Source: company website (2020) |
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Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd | ||||
Greenpeace's Reenergise campaign ranks Australia's biggest electricity using companies on their commitments and actions regarding renewable energy use. This company has: committed to powering their operations by 100% renewable electricity by 2030; signed at least one power purchase agreement (PPA) to buy power from a wind or solar project; invested in on-site solar.
Source: Greenpeace (2021)
This company received an S&P Global ESG Score of 76/100 in the Banks category of the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, an annual evaluation of companies' sustainability practices (last updated 18 Nov 2022). The rankings are based on an analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance, assessing issues such as corporate governance, risk management, environmental reporting, climate strategy, human rights and labour practices.
Source: S&P Global (2022) |
Banks play a critical role in enabling and sustaining fossil fuel projects. CommBank loaned $20.6 billion to dirty fossil fuel projects between 2008 and 2016, vastly overshadowing its lending to renewable energy.
Source: Market Forces (2016)
Oxfam Australia's 2014 report, 'Banking on Shaky Ground - Australia's big four banks and land grabs', includes evidence that ANZ, Westpac, NAB and the Commonwealth Bank have backed companies that have contributed to illegal logging, forced evictions, inadequate compensation, food shortages and child labour. The Commonwealth Bank has invested in agribusiness giant Bunge, whose Brazilian sugar mill is sourcing sugar from people occupying land in defiance of Brazilian laws that determined the Indigenous people evicted for the sugar plantation are the true owners of the land. Oxfam's 2016 follow-up report shows that although Bunge allowed its contracts to expire, the
community have still not been able to return to their land. Also CBA has not reported on how it has responded to its connection to five other land cases raised in the 2014 report. Source: Oxfam Australia (2016)
The 2018 update of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons' (ICAN) global report, "Don't Bank on the Bomb" showed that 329 financial institutions from around the world invested into 20 companies involved in the production, maintenance and modernization of nuclear weapons. Since 2014 this financial institution invested over US$403 million into 5 of the 20 nuclear weapons producers named in the report.
Source: ICAN (2018)
Forest 500 identifies the 350 companies and 150 financial institutions with the greatest exposure to tropical deforestation risk, and annually assesses them on the strength and implementation of their deforestation and human rights commitments. This financial institution received a score of 24%.
Source: Forest 500 (2021)
The 2021 report "Banking on Climate Chaos" analyses the world's 60 largest banks and their financing of tar sands oil, Arctic oil, offshore oil and gas, LNG, coal mining, and coal-fired power between 2016 and 2020. This bank invested US$6.2 billion between 2016 and 2020, making it the world's 54th worst fossil fuel funder.
Source: RAN (2021)
In 2018 this company was ordered to refund a total of $16 million to 140,000 people after it admitted customers were sold insurance despite the fact that they were not eligible to make claims.
Source: ABC (2018)
In 2023 this company paid a $3.55 million penalty, handed down by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the largest ever penalty under the Spam Act, for sending more than 65 million marketing emails that were hard-to-impossible to unsubscribe from.
Source: news article (2023)
In 2017 this company was ordered to refund more than $10 million to 75,000 people for insurance they should never have been charged. Consumer credit insurance, a type of add-on insurance sold with credit cards, personal loans, home loans and car loans, is promoted to borrowers to help them meet their repayments if they become sick, injured or involuntarily unemployed. But the Commonwealth Bank sold it to tens of thousands of customers who were unlikely to meet the necessary employment criteria for the policies, such as students and unemployed people, the regulator said.
Source: news article (2017)
In 2016 the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)fined CommSec for breaching market integrity rules, including failing to properly disclose certain trading information to clients. CommSec also voluntarily refunded $1.1 million in brokerage to more than 25,000 clients.
Source: news article (2016)
In 2018 this company agreed to pay $25 million to settle an interest rate-rigging case brought by ASIC. As part of the in-principle settlement, CBA will admit that it attempted to engage in unconscionable conduct, and manipulated the bank bill swap rate (BBSW) five times between February and June 2012. The BBSW is the key rate the market uses to set all other lending rates, such as mortgages and credit cards.
Source: ABC (2018) |
Named and shamed in the 2010 CHOICE Shonky Awards. The Commonwealth Standard Awards card has been awarded a Shonky for its poor and sneaky rewards. Spending $12,000 per annum on will provide only $20 in flights rewards, assuming you spend on Amex (the value drops even further for Visa/MasterCard users). But the way the awards points are converted to Qantas Frequent Flier points is a low-flying jest. One point only equals half of one frequent flier and that salient fact is hidden away in some mighty small print.
Source: Choice (2010)
Named and shamed in the 2014 CHOICE Shonky Awards. The Commonwealth Bank and it's BankWest subsidiary each received a Shonky for deceptive practices.
Source: Choice (2014)
According to the democracyforsale.net website, this company donated $828,938 to Australia's major political parties between 2012 and 2018, as disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commision (AEC).
Source: Democracy For Sale (2018)
As listed on the We Mean Business website, this company has committed to the following climate action initiatives: responsible corporate engagement in climate policy; commit to 100% renewable power; commit to smart energy use.
Source: We Mean Business (2021)
This company appears on the 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, signifying a commitment to supporting gender equality through policy development, representation, and transparency.
Source: Bloomberg (2021)
This company received a score of 60.5/100 in the Newsweek Green Ranking 2017, which ranks the world's largest publicly traded companies on eight indicators covering energy, greenhouse gases, water, waste, fines and penalties, linking executive pay to sustainability targets, board-level committee oversight of environmental issues and third-party audits. Ranking methodology by Corporate Knights and HIP Investor.
Source: Newsweek (2017)
The Equator Principles (EPs) are a set of guidelines, based upon the Performance Standards and guidelines from the IFC, the World Bank's private sector lending arm for private banks to assess and mitigate risks in project finance. Banks use the Principles to guide internal operating procedures for transaction for specific projects. Although the EPs are an important step to raise overall standards of financiers and projects in the developing world, they currently fall short on transparency and governance requirements.
Source: Equator Principles (2018)
Between 2015 and 2018 this company paid $9.3 billion tax on a total income of $130 billion, earning the number 1 spot on Michael West's Top 40 Tax Payers 2020. West calculated which of Australia's largest companies have paid the most tax using three years of tax transparency data published by the Australian Tax Office.
Source: Michael West (2018)
In 2022, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) asked companies to provide data about their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change risk. Responding companies are scored across four key areas: disclosure; awareness; management; and leadership. This company received a CDP Climate Change score of C.
Source: CDP (2022)
Modern slavery disclosure is a critical step in mitigating the risk associated with modern slavery practices in companies' operations and supply chains. The quality of the disclosure signals the level of commitments and efforts that the companies have put in managing these risks. In 2021 the Monash Centre for Financial Studies analysed and ranked the disclosure quality of the modern slavery statements submitted by the 300 largest listed companies on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX300). This company's modern slavery disclosure statement received a grade of C.
Source: Monash University (2021)
BankTrack is a global network of civil society organisations and individuals tracking the operations of the banking sector and the activities they finance. BankTrack aims to promote fundamental changes in the banking sector so that banks adopt just and sustainable business practices. Follow the link to see this bank's profile.
Source: BankTrack (2018) |
Company Details
Type | Wholly-owned subsidiary |
Contact Details
Address | New Zealand |
Website | www.asb.co.nz |