Subsidiary banks

Here’s a curly one.

ME Bank was, at one point, a leader in sustainability. They had been quoted as saying:

“ME does not have any investments in the mining industry, including the coal and gas export industries, and does not intend to invest in these industries in future.”

ME Bank was bought by Bank of Queensland – who do invest in those industries.

Meaning if you joined ME Bank specifically to not fund polluting projects, guess what… you now fund polluting projects.

I get it – even when switching banks is easy, it’s still really annoying. Especially if you already did your research and landed on ME Bank as your ethical winner.

Banks, power companies, insurance, super – they know a shift is coming, and they’re dialling up their defensive greenwash bullshit shields to maximum. They make it sound like they’re doing great things with their green initiatives, and this is exactly why the advertising industry is under the spotlight.

Is it worth sticking with your bank choice knowing your money is being used for terrible things, or might one more annoying afternoon be worth the trade-off?

Ethical banks don’t just avoid bad industries – they invest in really awesome ones.