The Royal Bank of Scotland has tonight u-turned and accepted that it should stop funding cluster bombs.

An internal email said:

From: “RBS Group Customer Relations”
Date: 31 August 2011 21:04:15 GMT+01:00
To: *******
Subject: RBS Group’s Defence Sector Position
Reply-To: GCRExecutiveSupport@rbs.com

RBS Group Customer Relations has sent you this e-mail. If this e-mail does not display properly simply view online

RBS Group’s Defence Sector Position
Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank-you for your e-mail regarding the RBS Group’s approach to defence sector lending, specifically relating to the production of cluster munitions.

The Group’s policy in this area is both comprehensive and clear. It states that RBS will not knowingly support any application for funding or financial services that would lead to contravention of the Oslo Convention on cluster munitions. We will always seek to ensure that we only deal with defence sector clients whose activities are compliant with both the letter and the spirit of the Convention.

After discussions with various NGO groups we have identified some defence sector clients whose activities could be considered to be outside the spirit of the Convention. As a result, we will be suspending all further services to any client where we can not be certain that they are in compliance with our policy. We will seek to work with both the UK Government and NGO groups to create clarity on this issue, and encourage other banks to do the same.

RBS Group

Amnesty UK had been running a pretty vigorous campaign, fronted by director Chris Atkins, on the issue.

Reader comments

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10. Matthew Bourgeois

    Not only do RBS hire me but they stop funding cluster bomb manufacture. That was nice of them, I was worried about that http://t.co/NXVs8Ki

11. D Deans

    That's nice of them. (Email: RBS u-turn on funding cluster bombs) http://t.co/mcAF3Dq via @libcon

12. mark a williams

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13. David Wearing

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15. Sam Gluck

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