We are the first bank in Australia to say we will avoid lending to the live export and intensive animal farming industries, a position which 74% of our customers support.

Find out more about how your bank measures up when it comes to animal welfare with Animals Australia's animal welfare scale.

The impact of live exports and intensive animal farming

Society’s expectations about how animals are treated are changing. More people are concerned about the welfare of farmed animals and want to see them live healthy and comfortable lives free of pain and distress.

Intensive animal farming involves using industrial-scale methods to produce meat and other animal products. These methods usually restrict animals’ freedoms; for example, battery cages for hens or sow stalls and farrowing crates for pigs prevent the animals from moving freely and being able to engage in natural behaviours. Intensive animal farming may also expose animals to harm through animal husbandry/management practices performed without appropriate pain relief, including dehorning, castration and mulesing.

Live export involves sending animals overseas, often exposing them to stress and cruel deaths during transportation from factors such as fatigue, heat stress, and overcrowding as well as unacceptable slaughter methods.

Why does your choice of bank matter?

Intensive animal farms and live export companies need funding to buy land and equipment, and to operate their businesses. Much of this funding comes from banks and superannuation funds. If your money is with financial institutions that provide loans to these companies, your money is supporting these practices.

Bank Australia gives you the option to move your money and ensure it won’t be used to finance intensive animal farming and live export. This sends a strong signal to your current bank about the type of world you want to live in.

What change are we trying to create?

We believe that giving people a way to move their money away from banks that lend to intensive animal farming and live export can help Australia to shift towards more sustainable farming practices and stop live export of animals. We would like to see a future in which all farming values animal welfare.

Our lending position is designed to only exclude the systems and processes that have negative impacts on animal welfare. We support Australian farmers, and we know many farmers want to protect the welfare of their animals, and use sustainable approaches that will enable them to farm their land into the future.