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DZ BankGermany
Active
This profile is actively maintained
Last update: 2024-12-17 13:07:30
DZ Bank's head office in Frankfurt. Photo: Dontworry via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Active
This profile is actively maintained
Last update: 2024-12-17 13:07:30
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About
| Website | http://www.dzbank.com/ |
| Headquarters |
Platz der Republik
60265 Frankfurt am Main Hessen
Germany
|
| CEO/chair |
Cornelius Riese CEO |
| Supervisor | |
| Ownership |
DZ BANK is the central institution of the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken Cooperative Financial Network and the central bank for more than 700 cooperative banks in Germany, in which it holds a majority interest. |
DZ Bank, founded in 2001, is the second largest bank in Germany by assets, and acts as the central banking institution for more than 700 cooperative banks. It is part of the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken co-operative network, one of Germany's largest private sector financial institutions. In this network DZ Bank functions as a central institution. The DZ Bank Group includes DVB Bank, a transportation finance bank; Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall, a building society; DG HYP, a provider of real estate finance; DZ PRIVATBANK Gruppe; R+V Versicherung, an insurance company; TeamBank, a provider of consumer finance; Union Investment Group, an asset management company; VR LEASING; and other institutions.
Sustainability
Commitments
Policies
Voluntary standards
DZ Bank's most important sustainability commitments can be found at the website sections listed below.
Links
DZ Bank has committed itself to the following voluntary standards:
Dodgy Deals
DZ Bank is linked to a number of companies and projects that BankTrack considers controversial (so called Dodgy Deals), e.g. as a current or past financier or through an expression of interest. The profiles below provide more details on the nature of DZ Bank's link to these deals.
Projects / Companies
Finance type
Year
News
BankTrack
Partners
Blog
External
Resources
Documents
Links
Accountability
Grievances
Response
tracking
DZ Bank has not established any complaints or grievance mechanisms able to address human rights concerns and open to individual and communities who might be adversely affected by its financing activities. It is however possible to lodge a complaint with the OECD National Contact point (see OECD Watch Guidance).
DZ Bank is an Equator Principles signatory. While the Equator Principles have no official grievance mechanism, complaints relating to this bank's financing of Equator Principles projects can be filed through our own website www.equator-complaints.org.
This page evaluates DZ Bank's responses to instances of alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, raised by civil society organisations. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but covers selected impacts raised by BankTrack and other civil society partners since 2016. For the full scoring methodology, see here. For more information about BankTrack's evaluation of bank responses to human rights impacts, see the 2021 report "Actions speak louder: assessing bank responses to human rights violations".
Impacts reviewed
Responded?
Total score
Response
Action
Monitoring
Banks profiting from the construction and hotel boom in Qatar (November 2022)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client(s) or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information to indicate the bank is monitoring the actions of its clients, or actions it might itself have taken in response to the impacts raised. More info
Don't Buy into Occupation report (November 2022)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank did not respond. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information to indicate the bank is monitoring the actions of its clients, or actions it might itself have taken in response to the impacts raised. More info
Myanmar: Equity exposure to companies linked to the military regime (October 2021)
0
0
0
0
Response
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank, in response to an inquiry from the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, outlined its Responsible Investment, Union Investment Engagement, and Proxy Voting policies. It asserted that it actively addresses economic activities in crisis regions through engagement dialogues with companies. However, DZ Bank did not acknowledge its association with companies linked to the Myanmar junta and did not respond to the substance of the issues raised. Action
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available on whether the bank engaged with its client or investee companies or took appropriate action. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information available about whether the bank monitored progress. More info
Rio Tinto's Jadar mine, Serbia (December 2021)
1.5
1
0.5
0
Response
1
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank responds publicly to the allegations in a way which comments on and responds to the substance of the issues raised, e.g noting the current status of the project and its expectations of Rio Tinto. Its response acknowledges its link to the impact.
Action
0.5
Out of 1
Rationale for score
The bank sets out that it has engaged with the client or investee company (in general terms) and sets out its expectations of Rio Tinto regarding the project, however it does not make explicit that it has engaged with the company on the specific project, or required the company to takle specific actions. Monitoring
0
Out of 1
Rationale for score
No information to indicate the bank is monitoring the actions of its clients, or actions it might itself have taken in response to the impacts raised. More info
Average
50%
0.38
0.25
0.13
0
Banks and Climate
Banks and Climate
The 2024 Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that DZ Bank provided US$ 12.36 Billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry between 2016 and 2023. In 2023 only, DZ Bank provided US$ 956 Million for oil, gas and coal companies expanding fossil fuels. Find further details on DZ Bank fossil fuel portfolio and how it compares to other large banks globally on Fossil Banks No Thanks and in the Banking on Climate Chaos report.
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool (CPT) and the Oil and Gas Policy Tracker (OGPT). BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of DZ Bank’s fossil fuel policy below.
Banks and Human Rights
Banks and Human Rights
BankTrack assessed DZ Bank in its 2024 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 4 points out of 15 and was ranked as a “follower”.
The bank scored 0 out of 3 points on the new “specific rights indicators”, which assess how banks address human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples’ right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent and environmental rights in their policies and practices.
In addition, DZ Bank scored 0.38 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the "Accountability" section of this profile.
The table below shows BankTrack's assessment of how DZ Bank has implemented the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Please click on 'expand all details' and 'explanation' for further information on the methodology.
Our policy assessments are always a work in progress. We very much welcome any feedback, especially from banks included in the assessments. Please get in touch at humanrights@banktrack.org.
Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
DZ Bank
DEU
1.5
Laggard
1.5
0
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 6.5 points
7 - 10 points
10.5 - 14 points
For more details see this page.
Global Human Rights Benchmark 2024
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
DZ Bank
DEU
4
Follower
4
0
Explanation
Laggard
Follower
Moderate achiever
Leader
0 - 3 points
3.5 - 7 points
7.5 - 10.5 points
11 - 15 points
For more details see this page.
Banks and Nature
Banks and Nature
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Overall scores
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its policies. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Beef
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its beef policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Forest & Finance Policy Assessment 2022: Palm Oil
BankLast update
Country
Score
Ranking
Details
Explanation
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its palm oil policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Laggard
Follower
Front runner
Leader
0 - 1 points
1 - 4 points
4 - 7 points
7 - 10 points
For more details see this page.
Banks and Steel
Banks and Steel
Partner organisation Reclaim Finance’s 2023 report on metallurgical coal financing showed that DZ Bank provided US$ 1.2 billion in loans and underwriting to developers of new metallurgical coal between 2016 and 2022. Find further details on DZ Bank’s metallurgical coal financing and and how it compares to other large banks globally in the report.
Reclaim Finance tracks the metallurgical coal policies of financial institutions, including banks, in their Coal Policy Tool. BankTrack works closely with Reclaim Finance and endorses their policy assessments. Find further details on their assessment of DZ Bank’s metallurgical coal policy below.
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