The Don’t Buy into Occupation (DBIO) Coalition has released its 2025 report uncovering the extent of European financial institutions’ investments in companies that support and encourage Israel’s illegal settlement project in the occupied Palestinian territory and/or contribute to the crime of genocide. Financial research conducted by its partner, the independent research organization Profundo, shows that 1,115 European financial institutions (including banks, asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds, and the European Investment Bank) have financial ties with 104 companies whose activities contribute to maintaining Israel’s illegal status quo in the occupied Palestinian territory and/or to the crime of genocide.
Over the past two years, recent developments on the ground have exacerbated the existing risks associated with the settlement project. Furthermore, a series of new legal responsibilities have emerged for all companies and financial institutions whose operations are linked to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, amid the decisions and advisory opinions issued by the United Nations and the International Court of Justice during the same period. Accordingly, this year’s report adopts a broader and more comprehensive approach than the previous four editions, examining the financial relationships between European financial institutions and companies linked to the illegal settlement project in the West Bank. Further investigation focused on companies involved in activities that support the continuation of the illegal situation imposed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including acts identified as genocide and other grave violations of international law.
Amid the relevant international rulings and decisions, and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Regulations, and the Genocide Convention, the Don’t Buy into Occupation campaign has identified six main categories encompassing activities of complicity or support for the occupation, which include military and security support, technological support, exploitation of natural resources and the sale or transfer of energy, construction and demolition, banking services, and commercial establishments providing services and facilities that support the maintenance and continuation of settlements. With this methodological framework applied, a non-exhaustive list of 104 companies involved in one or more of these categories was identified.
In the second phase of the research, the Don’t Buy into Occupation Coalition commissioned the independent Dutch organization Profundo to identify the financial relationships between those 104 companies and European financial institutions in all 27 European Union member states, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Profundo’s research concluded that 1,115 European financial institutions (including banks, asset managers, insurance companies, pension funds, and the European Investment Bank) have financial relationships with complicit companies. European investors provided $310 billion in loans and equity investments to these companies between January 2023 and August 2025, in addition to holding $1.503 trillion worth of shares and bonds in the same companies as of 31 August 2025. The largest European creditors, in terms of lending and equity investments, to companies involved in Israeli settlements were identified by the report as BNP Paribas, HSBC, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank. Other major investors, in terms of equity and bond holdings, include the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), Crédit Agricole, and Deutsche Bank.
Among companies involved in Israel’s illegal settlement project, the report identified Coca-Cola, Booking Holdings, and Expedia Group as recipients of the most funding from European financial institutions. The report presented a set of key recommendations for financial institutions, commercial companies, European governments and local authorities, and other entities holding investment portfolios.
Since 2021, the Don’t Buy into Occupation (DBIO) Coalition, a network of 25 Palestinian and European civil society organizations, has published four consecutive annual reports exposing the financial ties between European financial institutions and companies involved in Israel’s illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. As previous DBIO reports have confirmed, international companies and financial institutions operating within or linked to the Israeli settlement project in the occupied Palestinian territory have for years failed to uphold their human rights responsibilities and their commitment to respecting international law.
Read the full report:
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