Thousands of Animals Australia supporters have helped inspire NAB to develop an animal welfare policy — a first for Australia’s ‘Big Four’ banks, and a major step forward for animals.
Did you know that your savings might be helping prop up live export companies and factory farms? That’s why thousands of Animals Australia supporters have called on their banks to cut the purse strings of cruel industries. And it’s working! In an Australian first, NAB has released an animal welfare policy applying to how they lend money.
So far, NAB has ruled out financing:
- testing on animals for cosmetics;
- the use of non-human primates for testing;
- shark finning and commercial whaling;
- fur farms or the manufacture of fur products; and
- cruel capturing and killing of species considered to be ‘invasive’.
For all industries that use animals, NAB has included the ‘Five Domains’ model in their lending policy ‘Principles’. This sets an expectation that those they lend to will consider not only an animal’s health and physical needs; but importantly, their social and behavioural needs, and mental state.
This means that one of Australia’s largest financial institutions has acknowledged that animals have intrinsic value, complex emotional lives, and deserve quality of life. NAB’s animal welfare policy is a significant acknowledgement that animals are more than just ‘units of production’ and lays a pathway for other financial institutions to follow.
Hopefully this great first step will lead to NAB and other banks taking even stronger positions on farmed animal industries and practices. We’ll be encouraging them to do so!
