Learn
Banks still investing in companies that violate Palestinian human rights
22nd Dec. 2025
Over two years after KiwiSaver investment providers were shown evidence that their investments are supporting human rights violations in occupied Palestine, they continue to invest the hard-earned savings of KiwiSaver customers in those companies.
Two years after receiving evidence, KiwiSaver providers continue investing customer savings in companies supporting human rights violations in occupied Palestine. In annual surveys, over 90% of New Zealanders say they want to avoid investments in companies that violate human rights.
However, Mindful Money research now reveals that KiwiSaver funds of the four major banks (including BNZ, now owned by First Cape) still provide funding to the companies that contribute to humanitarian crises in Palestine.
In welcome news, ASB announced this week that they have sold their investment in Motorola, one of the companies that contributes to human rights violations in occupied Palestine. Motorola provides telecommunications, surveillance and military technology to the Israeli military and illegal Israeli settlements.
Barry Coates, Mindful Money Founder and co-CEO commented: “At last ASB has agreed to sell their investments in Motorola Solutions, over two years after the information was disclosed on Mindful Money’s website and after campaigning by Justice for Palestine, Amnesty International Aotearoa and others. This is welcome news.”
“However, each of the big 4 bank-branded KiwiSaver funds still invest in companies that contribute to violations of human rights in Palestine, despite Kiwis saying they want to avoid those investments. The banks are not listening to the thousands of Kiwis who have invested in their funds.”
“Annual surveys of the public show that most KiwiSaver customers invest their hard-earned savings in funds managed by the banks because they are already bank customers. The major banks claim to operate with high ethical standards, but this is not consistent with their investment in companies harming human rights.”
New data published this week by Mindful Money is available to the public, easily accessible and entirely free on Mindful Money’s website www.mindfulmoney.nz. Investments in companies that contribute to violations of Palestinian human rights are identified with an OPT tag.
The following are bank-branded investments in companies that violate the rights of Palestinian people within KiwiSaver Growth funds at end September 2025 (noting that there may have been divestments since then, such as ASB’s divestments from Motorola):
|
Bank-branded fund |
% of portfolio |
Companies |
|
ANZ KiwiSaver Growth Fund |
0.54% |
Booking Holdings, AirBNB, Motorola Solutions, Volvo Group, IBM |
|
ASB KiwiSaver Growth Fund |
0.87% |
IBM, Palantir Technologies, Motorola Solutions, Booking Holdings, AirBNB, Cemex, Amphenol |
|
BNZ KiwiSaver Growth Fund (now owned by First Cape) |
0.79% |
Palantir, IBM, Booking Holdings, Glencore, AirBNB, Rheinmetall AG, Volvo Group, Expedia Group, Heidelberg Materials, Cemex, Maersk, Amphenol |
|
Westpac KiwiSaver Growth Fund |
0.57% |
Booking Holdings, Caterpillar, Palantir Technologies, IBM, Heidelberg Materials, Amphenol |
Mindful Money calls on the four bank-branded funds, and other KiwiSaver providers, to divest from companies that violate human rights. “We expect the banks to operate with high ethical standards. They can do better.”
Barry Coates concluded: “The ongoing crises in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem are affecting the lives of millions of Palestinian people. Our KiwiSaver funds should not be invested in companies that are supporting violations of their rights.”
Contact:
Barry Coates
barry@mindfulmoney.nz
021 365 165
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
Anyone can check their funds for free at https://www.mindfulmoney.nz/kiwisaver/checker/
The investment data is from Mindful Money’s analysis of portfolio analysis of holdings at 30 September 2025.
The portfolio analysis methodology is available here:https://www.mindfulmoney.nz/learn/mindful-money-methodology/