West Virginia won't do business with 4 major financial institutions that reportedly 'boycott' fossil-fuel companies

The state of West Virginia will no longer enter into contracts with four major financial institutions that reportedly "boycott" companies affiliated with the fossil-fuel industry, a mainstay of the West Virginian economy.

On Monday, Republican state Treasurer Riley Moore, currently running for Congress, announced that the following banking institutions had been added to the state’s Restricted Financial Institution List: Citigroup Inc.; TD Bank N.A.; The Northern Trust Company; and HSBC Holdings PLC.

The restricted list also includes BlackRock Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo & Co., all of which were added when Senate bill 262, the law establishing the list, went into effect in July 2022.

According to the law, financial institutions added to the restricted list have been engaged in a boycott of companies that manufacture and process fossil fuels. The law defines "boycott" as refusing to work with such energy companies without "a reasonable business purpose."

The list is designed to prevent the state from working with banks that work against the state's interests. "We cannot allow institutions that seek to destroy our state’s critical energy industries and the economic activity they generate to also profit from handling the very taxpayer dollars they seek to diminish," Moore explained.

"We are absolutely going to stand by our industries here in fossil fuels," Moore added in an interview with Fox Business.

Earlier this year, Moore's office sent letters to six total financial institutions, warning them that their ESG — environmental, social, and governance — policies may land them on the list, thereby disqualifying them from tens of billions in state contracts. Last year, West Virginia spent $22 billion in banking transactions.

However, two of the institutions that received a letter, BMO Bank and Fifth Third Bancorp, demonstrated that they were not boycotting such companies after all. "I applaud both of these institutions for working with us in a cooperative way to ensure the free market remains free and our state’s critical industries are treated fairly," Moore said.

At least two of the four financial institutions now on the banned list denied boycotting companies associated with fossil fuels.

"We seek to work with – not boycott – energy companies," said a representative of HSBC. "Our policies anticipate that we will continue to provide corporate lending and capital markets transaction support to energy-based customers to both maintain supplies as well as support an orderly and just transition that helps with the creation of new jobs. We are supportive of energy companies throughout the U.S., whom we are pleased to have as clients."

A spokesperson for Northern Trust claimed that it "does not restrict or prohibit investment in fossil fuel-based energy companies." The spokesperson also noted that Northern Trust has given $52 billion in investment exposure to what Fox Business called the "traditional energy and services offered for managing oil, gas and other fossil fuels for clients."

Citigroup and TD Bank did not immediately respond to the outlet's request for comment.

But Moore stands by his decision to add all four to the list: "My action today represents our continued commitment to protect state funds from furthering these politically motivated, subjective ESG policies that attempt to cut off financing for our coal, oil and natural gas industries and harm our state."

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