ASB Divests From Motorola For Involvement In Illegal Israeli Settlements

After months of targeted pressure from the Don’t Bank On Apartheid campaign, organised by Justice for Palestine, ASB Bank has this week advised the campaign organisers they have divested millions of dollars of New Zealanders’ KiwiSaver funds from Motorola Solutions, Inc. Data from March 2025 showed that ASB KiwiSaver funds had NZD $18.4 million invested in Motorola Solutions, Inc.

Motorola Solutions, Inc. has been identified by the United Nations as a company that is involved in supporting and maintaining the illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Motorola provides telecommunications, surveillance and military technology to the Israeli military and illegal Israeli settlements. The company also provides technology for operating Israel’s checkpoints and separation wall, two key pieces of Israel's apartheid infrastructure.

As part of the pressure campaign, Amnesty International Aotearoa recently announced they were leaving ASB after the bank failed to address Amnesty’s concerns about their material support of human rights abuses through the investment in Motorola.

“ASB’s divestment from Motorola is a huge win for the fight in Aotearoa New Zealand for Palestinians to have equal human rights in their homeland,” said Justice for Palestine spokesperson Kate Stone.

“Israel is only able to maintain its apartheid regime of systemic discrimination against Palestinians and expand its illegal settlements because of the material support of the international community. This includes investments of financial institutions like ASB and other New Zealand banks and KiwiSaver fund managers. The Don’t Bank On Apartheid campaign is about ordinary New Zealanders saying we don’t want our KiwiSaver dollars supporting injustices against our Palestinian whānau.”

“Over 8,500 people signed the petition calling on ASB to divest, and hundreds of customers moved their KiwiSavers, mortgages and banking services away from ASB because they support Palestinians having the same rights to freedom, justice and equality as the rest of humanity,” said Kate Stone.

“The Don’t Bank on Apartheid campaign targeted ASB first because they’re one of the biggest investors in Israel’s illegal occupation, and their investment in Motorola was their largest. But from the outset we were clear that we were calling on not just ASB, but all New Zealand banks and KiwiSaver fund managers to ditch all their investments in the illegal Israeli settlements.”

“We’ve shown there’s a big potential cost to ignoring customers’ concerns about investments in the illegal Israeli settlements. ASB, the New Zealand Government’s SuperFund, and other large KiwiSaver providers like ANZ and Westpac Bank, which continue to hold and have even increased their investments over the course of the genocide in Gaza, should take stock because we won’t let up until not a single dollar of New Zealanders hard earned savings is funding Israeli crimes against humanity,” said Kate Stone.

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