One of the largest banks worldwide, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has updated its “Environmental and Social Policy Framework” to exclude the financing of nuclear weapons production.
MUFG previously excluded companies involved in the production of cluster munitions, but not other weapons. The announcement of the policy revision now states that the group will not finance the production of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and land-mines, because of their “inhumane nature”.
Recognizing nuclear weapons as inhumane and unacceptable is a major step for MUFG. As the largest banking group in Japan and among the 5 largest banks globally, MUFG is making a strong contribution to the norm against nuclear weapons.
To increase the practical impact of the policy, the policy should be strengthened significantly. Most importantly, it should exclude companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons as a whole, rather than only the financing of the production of nuclear weapons. Read more on elements of a comprehensive policy on nuclear weapons here.
More on MUFG’s policy change in this article by Kyodo news (in Japanese).