BMO Bank opens lending to fossil fuel companies following West Virginia pushback (2024)
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BMO Bank, the U.S. subsidiary of the Toronto-based Bank of Montreal, recently abandoned its internal practice of denying credit to the coal industry. The decision came after West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore (R) sent a warning letter to the bank arguing the practice would disqualify BMO from state contracts:
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The change came to light Monday after West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore took a victory lap in an announcement of the financial firms it was adding to its boycott list, which doesn’t include BMO. In late February, the bank received a warning that it could be put on a state list of companies that Moore’s office considers to boycott the fossil fuels industry. … In response to that February notice, Timothy Cox, US general counsel for BMO, said in a March 25 letter to the state treasurer’s office that it removed a statement detailing its restrictions on lending to the coal industry as a result of policy changes in November 2023. Cox’s letter was obtained by Bloomberg News via a public records request. 'As a result of policy changes made in November 2023, we removed a Coal Statement from BMO’s websites as it did not fully reflect our current policies,' Cox’s letter to Moore’s office said. 'After receipt of your letter, we realized that a cached version of the statement remained on our websites and took it down. We have no plans to republish the Coal Statement.'[1] |
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Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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