ABN Amro, the Netherlands’ third largest bank with six million customers worldwide, will no longer extend credit to tobacco industry clients, Agence France-Presse reported.

Citing a bank official, AFP said ABN has imposed a moratorium on tobacco lending, although it will honour existing contracts. “The core activity of those in the tobacco industry is not compatible with our values,” said Marianne Verhaar, director of ABN’s relations with charitable organisations, as quoted by AFP.
A 5 July press release by the bank announcing a health partnership with the Dutch heart foundation Hartstichting does not mention a tobacco loan moratorium, but says ABN decided to stop investing in the tobacco industry in April. The statement cites the director of Hartstichting, Floris Italianer, as saying, “we hope other financial institutions will soon follow and redefine their social policies.”