Is your KiwiSaver funding genocide?

Hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders are members of KiwiSaver funds that are invested in Israeli businesses and government bonds.

We analysed the March 2024 holdings of popular KiwiSaver funds via their filings on MBIE’s Disclose Register to see who was still funneling money into Israel.

Westpac are one of the few providers that continue to invest in Bank Hapoalim BM, Bank Leumi Le Israel BM, Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, and Israel Discount Bank, four Israeli banks included on a February 2020 list of companies conducting business in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory from the Office of the UN Human Rights Commissioner. The NZ Super Fund divested from those banks in 2021, citing the “human rights abuses caused by the construction of those (Occupied Palestinian Territory) settlements.”

Even funds that advertise themselves as “ethical investments” are still supporting Israel. Simplicity, one of the largest “ethical” fund managers, invests in Israeli government bonds. These bonds are essentially a loan to the Israeli government and are a key source of income to continue their genocide. Westpac, AMP, ASB, and ANZ also invest in these bonds.

Simplicity, Westpac, MAS, AMP, and ASB have investments in NICE Ltd, a cyber security turned customer relations company founded by veterans of Israel’s Unit 8200, the spy agency responsible for the invasive surveillance of Palestinian civilians living in occupied territories. NICE Ltd made hundreds of millions of dollars with their technology before selling the surveillance and intelligence divisions in 2015 (including a $158 million sale to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company) to pivot to their current CRM software operations.

Simplicity continue their “ethical investing” with Israel Chemicals Ltd, a chemical manufacturer who provides white phosphorous to the US military for use in projectiles. These weapons are then provided to the Israeli army who just can’t stop committing war crimes by using them on civilians (as recently as in Lebanon in October 2023). Update July 2024: Simplicity have clarified that as of May 2024 they no longer invest in ICL Group and these changes will be reflected in their September 2024 public filings. They did not address their other Israeli investments.

It’s not all bad news, though. Following pressure from its members, Simplicity divested from the blacklisted Israeli banks in November 2023.

While many of us have felt helpless watching the genocide in Gaza unfold, a simple but meaningful action we can all take today is to make sure our money isn’t supporting it. This isn’t about “consumer choice” or switching providers to a slightly more “ethical” one, this is about demanding that your KiwiSaver provider who is investing your money fully divests from Israel immediately.

Another step you can take is to tell your friends, tell your colleagues, and if your employer has set superannuation providers, tell your work.

Contact details for the KiwiSaver schemes above are:

Westpac - 0508 972 254 - [email protected]
Simplicity - Request a call - Email form 
ASB - 0800 272 738 - Email form
ANZ - 0800 736 034
BNZ - 0800 269 5494
AMP - 0800 267 5494 - [email protected]
MAS - 0800 800 627 - [email protected]

Find out more about actions you can take at Justice for Palestine .

Our wiki article contains full references. If you want to help us with our research, fill out the contact form here.

Update 12/07/2024

Sustainalytics: How pro-Zionist lobbying broke ethical investing

Sustainalytics is a company owned by the American financial firm Morningstar that provides environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data to companies1). It is the provider of ESG data used by “ethical” funds such as Simplicity to determine whether their investments meet their Responsible Investment Policy.

Following significant lobbying from pro-Israel organisations like the ADL, and right-wing US state officials, Sustainalytics amended their policies to address “anti-Israel bias concerns” in their research2). These changes state that:

  • Sustainalytics will immediately terminate the use of several sources, including the United Nations Human Rights Council, among others“
  • Sustainalytics will use geographic names (e.g., West Bank, East Jerusalem) in relevant regions, rather than terms such as “Occupied Palestinian Territory” or “occupied territory”
  • (Sustainalytics)…will remove references to the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions campaign
  • Sustainalytics will provide additional documented guidance to ensure that its analysts understand that business activity, including but not limited to sectors such as telecommunications, banking, real estate, and construction, within the regions linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or related to Israel’s defense against terrorism, do not give rise to a presumption that there is a human rights concern.

These are now the policies of the organisation setting the screening standards across the world for what counts as an ethical investment.

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