The Banks Are Being Called to Account

THE BANKS ARE BEING CALLED TO ACCOUNT. BankTrack and the Fair Steel Coalition — with Green Advocates Liberia — have called on the banks financing ArcelorMittal to temporarily suspend finance until the company works with communities to provide remedy and puts safeguards in place to prevent future harm. The case is documented in their joint media release of October 14, 2026, following the Disclose investigation into ArcelorMittal's Liberia operations. The banks were first warned about ArcelorMittal's human rights impacts in Liberia in July 2024. Since then, according to DealLogic figures cited in the release, global banks have helped ArcelorMittal raise over US$2.3 billion through at least five corporate lending and bond underwriting deals — while Liberian communities lost homes, crops and livelihoods. The banks named, from most to least exposed: SMBC Group, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, HSBC, Santander, Standard Chartered, Mizuho Financial, Crédit Agricole, BBVA, BNP Paribas, ING Group, and Société Générale. "Despite multiple warnings and interventions to the banks financing ArcelorMittal, the situation in Liberia remains dire for communities who have had their homes, crops, and livelihoods destroyed by ArcelorMittal. Enough is enough, it is time for banks to start living up to their human rights commitments." — John Nimly Brownell, Green Advocates Liberia Dada Konkah of Nimba, whose crops were destroyed to make an access road for a dam, is quoted in the coalition's reporting saying Bank of America, Intesa Sanpaolo and JPMorgan completely ignored the communities' letter — and his family has still received no compensation. CorporateWatch Liberia welcomes this pressure. Our register counts 93 cases and at least 2,981 people harmed in Liberia, and our own stakeholder work has carried the same question to the banks: what will you do with the leverage you hold? The money trail is next week's story. Follow the record: corporatewatchliberia.org Join the petition: change.org/p/hold-arcelormittal-accountable-for-systemic-human-rights-abuses CorporateWatch Liberia — Land. Life. Justice.

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