In a textbook illustration of the perils of downsizing, a group of female executives has filed suit against beleaguered banking giant Citigroup, charging the bank’s layoffs hit women executives harder than men. That, attorney Douglas Wigdor told Forbes.com, is “recessionary discrimination.” Wigdor filed suit with the EEOC on behalf of five female executives who claim [...]

Global Witness’ new report Undue Diligence names some of the major banks who have done business with corrupt regimes. By accepting these customers, banks are assisting those who are using state assets to enrich themselves or brutalise their own people. This corruption denies the world’s poorest people the chance to lift themselves out of poverty [...]

Forced leave, wage reductions, hiring freezes and shorter hours simply did not do enough. A year into this recession, companies across the board are resorting to mass job cuts. Home Depot, Caterpillar, Sprint Nextel and at least eight other companies announced on Monday they would cut more than 75,000 jobs in the US and around [...]

The past decade has seen a radical shift from viewing banks as far-removed from social and environmental impacts, to recognizing banks as the fulcrum of financing, and thus a key lever for achieving sustainability. The 2003 launch of the Equator Principles and the granting of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus [...]

A fresh writedown for UBS. An ethical writedown, that is. The below chart compiled by Covalance – an ethical research outfit. As you’ll notice, UBS – generally a poorly behaved child – has been very naughty since mid-April. (…) HSBC, meanwhile, is good as gold. Last year major positive issues regarding the Banking industry have [...]

Interactions of banks with governments are increasingly criticized in terms of ethics; meanwhile, environmental initiatives and philanthropic donations are the industry’s main positive news cows, states a report published today by Geneva-based ethical reputation research firm Covalence – Covalence Banking Industry Report 2008. (…) The historical EthicalQuote ranking calculated since 2002 sees Banks dropping from [...]

Thousands of South Africans who suffered under apartheid won the right yesterday to sue a number of companies, including BP, Citigroup and Ford, for allegedly helping to perpetrate human rights abuses. The US Supreme Court ruled that three class actions can use the American legal system to sue approximately 50 international corporations who they believe [...]

La vague de violence qui s’est abattue sur le Kenya à la suite des élections présidentielles a été qualifiée, par bon nombre, de nature tribale ou ethnique. Toutefois, pour les analystes de ce pays d’Afrique de l’Est, c’est l’économie de base qui est véritablement à l’origine des troubles. A Nairobi, plus de 60 pour cent [...]

En matière de réchauffement climatique, l’industrie pétrolière est sans surprise la première montrée du doigt. Le produit final et le processus de production sont jugés polluants par un grand nombre d’observateurs. Leader du secteur, l’américain ExxonMobil est la principale cible des critiques. BP et Shell sont également perçues comme polluantes (voir le graphe ci-contre). Mais [...]

According to the latest Banking Industry report from research group Covalence, competition for eco-minded customers has helped improve how banks’ services affect the environment. The study looked at the EthicalQuote Reputation Index for nine industries from June 2006 to June 2007 and found that the banking sector was ranked second highest in its overall reputation, [...]