"Credit Suisse promises safeguards for indigenous groups after Dakota pipeline intervention", 17 Oct 2019

In 2017, Swiss NGO Society for Threatened Peoples filed a complaint against Credit Suisse with the Swiss National Contact Point of the [...] OECD over their financial relationship with firms involved in the Dakota pipeline... [B]oth parties agreed on an outcome this September that was published on Tuesday...  

Credit Suisse will include the requirement of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of affected communities in its sector guidelines for partners in the oil and gas, mining, forestry and agribusiness...

In a statement [...] the bank said, “Following the conclusion of a constructive mediation process facilitated by the NCP, we are amending our respective sector policies to incorporate aspects regarding human rights and indigenous peoples even more specifically. We take our responsibility towards all our stakeholders very seriously and appreciate an ongoing productive dialogue.”  ...

The Society for Threatened Peoples welcomed the move as a “first step” towards incorporating the rights of indigenous communities but were disappointed that the bank was only planning to apply it to project financing...

[It] emphasised that while it “highly values the NCP” the OECD guidelines are non-binding.  

“The NCP should therefore by no means be understood as an alternative to the Responsible Business Initiative...”