CommBank was last week revealed to have continued a financial relationship with Adani Infrastructure in a transactional capacity despite publically ceasing their advisory role in 2015.
“Recent statements by CommBank are a deceptive attempt to reframe their continued facilitation of the Carmichael mega-mine as business as usual,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Nikola Casule said.
“There is nothing ‘day-to-day’ about being the transactional bank for a $1.6 million payment to secure a water license for the largest, and most controversial, coal mine project in Australia today.”
“Their attempt to slip it past as just another money transfer is an insult to the thousands of their own customers who have sent their complaints about this issue directly to the bank and the millions of Australians who want the Great Barrier Reef protected from this disastrous coal mine.”
The Commonwealth Bank last week responded to a Greenpeace media release and reports about their relationship to the Adani mine in Queensland saying that their role had been “misrepresented and misinterpreted”.
“Ordinary transactional banking accounts [are] used by thousands of Australian businesses and consumers,” a statement on CommBank’s website reads[1].
“Transaction accounts allow people and organisations to make payments using their own money. They are vital for Australian businesses and consumers to handle their day-to-day affairs.
“A transaction account does not equate to business lending or project finance.“
Casule said the bank needed to wake up to the nature of their involvement with Adani’s Carmichael mine and move away from the toxic project and fossil fuel projects in general.
“Despite their attempts to wriggle away from the truth, CommBank have directly facilitated the construction of the Carmichael mine,” he said.
“They have proved that they are still Adani’s bank in Australia and they have contradicted their public commitment to take action to limit global warming to no more than two degrees.
“We again call on the Commonwealth Bank to make an immediate commitment to no longer financing new coal projects, including the proposed Carmichael coal mine.
“If they are really serious about creating a better future for Australia, as their advertising claims, now is the time to prove it.”
Notes for editors:
[1] https://www.commbank.com.au/guidance/newsroom/myth-busting-transaction-accounts-201705.html
For interviews contact:
Simon Black, Senior Media Campaigner
Tel: 0418 219 086
Email: simon.black@greenpeace.org