Three weeks into Putin’s assault on the Ukraine some banks operating in Ireland still have a stake in Russian oil and gas firms.
Fossil fuel divestment campaign group Market Forces revealed recently that HSBC, which has several branches in Northern Ireland, doesn’t just do business with them, it part owns five of the top earners - Gazprom, Rosneft, Tatneft, Lukoil and Novatek.
Campaign leader Adam McGibbon said “customers and investors need to ask whether their money has been pulled out of Russian companies – especially oil and gas companies and those facing sanctions”.
Read more: Ship carrying coal from Russia on way to Belfast Harbour
The bank didn’t respond to our request for a comment.
Following revelations around the extent of HSBC’s exposure, we asked Ireland’s main banks if they have either direct or indirect links with fossil fuel companies based in Russia.
While some said straight out they do “not back any Russian oil and gas firms” others provided more complicated answers.
Asked about indirect exposure, a spokesperson added: “Bank of Ireland has no involvement/funding with Russian oil or gas firms”.
A spokesperson for Danske Bank, which took over Northern Bank, said: “Our direct exposure to customers residing or established in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltics is very limited at less than 0.1% of our total exposure.
“It is not possible to quantify indirect exposure and second round effects currently.”
Ulster Bank’s parent firm, NatWest, however, “has limited direct exposure” and said they are responding to all UK and international measures announced in line with regulatory expectations and will continue to monitor the situation.
The company says it is also observing “relevant sanctions” and “may adopt additional restrictions based on overall financial crime risks in a specific area, for example”.
A spokesperson for Permanent TSB told us: “Permanent TSB does not back any Russian oil or gas firms, or Gazprom.”
Bank of Ireland said they too “have no direct exposure to Russia”.
Bloomberg reported in February how Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan said “our exposures are limited”.
“We have been out of Russia for many, many years and we have exercised a lot of care and diligence on on-boarding Russian entities and Russian clients,” he told them.
Friends of the Earth have carried out a poll on people's views about Russian gas after the war on Ukraine started.
The research found that four in five think the EU should boycott Russian gas, while almost two thirds would like to see it replaced with renewable energy.
Jerry Mac Evilly, Head of Policy, said: “We already knew our continued reliance on oil and gas has been driving the climate crisis and hurting the most vulnerable. Now we know it’s also funding the Russian war machine.
“For years campaigners have said it would take a mix of a moonshot approach and a war-effort to get us off polluting, expensive fossil fuels.
“We didn’t expect it would take an actual war in Europe to drive that point home.
“It’s now essential we get off gas as soon as possible by accelerating development of renewable energy and massively increasing support for people to make their homes warmer and more energy efficient, particularly those on lower incomes.
“The right approach both strategically and for the people of Ukraine is to bring Russia’s fossil fuel dominance to an end. “However, it would be the height of folly if the European response was to sink more money into new LNG infrastructure that will take years to build and last for decades.
“The solution to a gas-fuelled crisis cannot be more gas and more dependency on petro-states.”
Read more: NI community claim incinerator approval risks their health unnecessarily
Read more: Climate Bill: MLAs vote to split greenhouse reduction targets in NI
To get the latest breaking news straight to your inbox, sign up to our free newsletter.
