18 November 2021

Groupe BPCE has reviewed the allegations published by Banktrack in a paper titled “Investing in the Military Cartel”. The articles singles out 19 international banks (among which Groupe BPCE) who, directly or through their subsidiary invest in corporations with activities in Myanmar. The article also mentions that several tens of other financial institutions have investments in these corporations. Groupe BPCE takes very seriously the evolution of the political situation in Myanmar and wishes to underline that it is running its investment activities in compliance with all applicable laws and regulation, in particular pertaining to KYC obligations and legally enforceable embargoes. The investments described by Banktrack are shares held by asset management affiliates of the group in international corporations issuers. These affiliates have vetted the corresponding issuers according to the applicable KYC rules. In addition, the shares held are not specifically intended to finance assets or activities in any particular country. Groupe BPCE’s asset management affiliates are for a large part signatory to UN Principle for Responsible Investment and are engaging with issuers and clients to ensure that ESG criteria are used in their investment processes