Council to draw up ‘most robust ethical criteria ever’ for future banking partner

Town Hall finance chief Cllr Diarmaid Ward. Photograph: Islington Council

Islington Council’s banking contract with Barclays comes to an end in 2025 – and finance chief Cllr Diarmaid Ward has promised that whoever is chosen as the next partner will have to meet the “most robust ethical criteria ever”.

The council’s use of Barclays has faced intense scrutiny over the years, due to the bank’s investments in fossil fuels and companies complicit with human rights abuses.

Cllr Diarmaid Ward, deputy leader and executive member for finance and performance, revealed at a council meeting in July that the Town Hall had received “no satisfactory answer” from Barclays about its “complicity in human rights abuses in the Occupied Palestine Territories”.

“I wholeheartedly share all your concerns about Barclays’ investment practices,” said Ward, who shared that he previously lived and worked in the West Bank as an English teacher.

He said the council has engaged with the British bank “on multiple occasions” over the past two years and seen “some positive change”, but only in the areas of fossil fuel and climate change investments.

The council will look to procure a new banking contract in 2025 after the expiration of the current one with Barclays.

Ward labelled procurement a “complex” and “lengthy” process that could take approximately 18 months.

“Even if the council was to end its contract tomorrow [with Barclays], it would not be able to provide new contractor quicker than that,” he explained.

He said the council would draw up the “most robust criteria ever” on ethical and environmental causes as part of the procurement process.

A working group is being established to ensure this, he added, and “methods of holding banks to account when they do not deliver on promises” would also be put in place.

Ward said that the legal documentation for the procurement process would be shared publicly.

Update: a previous article on this subject stated that Cllr Ward said Barclays would be excluded from the procurement process for the next banking contract. This was inaccurate, and the article was taken down. We apologise for the inaccuracy.