ANZ Bank: Iraq war profiteer claims record $3.7b profit

by Albert Broadhurst - Perth Indymedia 2006-10-26 11:48 AM +0800

ANZ Bank, a major player in financing the War on Iraq, has announced a full-year after-tax profit of almost $3.7 billion, up 16 per cent on last year.

As a part of the consortium set up by the US occupation to manage the Trade Bank of Iraq, the ANZ plays a key role in promoting the interest of western buisiness in Iraq. The consortium encourages the importation of products from the west to flood the Iraqi market, making Iraq dependent on outside business to the detriment of it’s own economy.

ANZ is one example of an Australian company that is making millions of dollars from the war in Iraq and the intense neo-liberal restructuring of Iraq's economy...
In Australasia, the ANZ bank is making a killing in Iraq.

ANZ is part of an international consortium called the Iraq Trade Bank, set up by the US occupation, which is playing a crucial role in encouraging waves of imported products to flood into Iraq. The US has cracked open Iraq's heavily protected economy, completely abolishing tariffs.

Trade Bank bureaucrats tour around the world, encouraging big multi-nationals to take advantage of this new environment and start business in Iraq. Local industries have simply not been able to compete and most have been forced to shut down. This phenomenon has left 70% of Iraqis unemployed. The country continues to sink into ever worsening poverty as these companies pursue nothing but more profit.

People in Australia and New Zealand have already begun to organise against ANZ's war profiteering. In 2005 there were several successful protests in Perth, Wollongong, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and 200 people in Auckland on March 19th. In Sydney, ANZ in were forced to close their CBD branches. In Sydney the ANZ was forced to cancel its O-week stalls on Sydney Uni for fear of bad publicity.

We demand of ANZ and the Australian Federal Government:
- That ANZ withdraws its participation from the Iraq Trade Bank immediately.
- That all Australian and Coalition troops be withdrawn from Iraq immediately.
- That the Australian Government and all Australian companies involved in the plunder of Iraq pay war reparations...

Targeting ANZ allows the anti-war movement to mobilise people who are outraged at what is going on in Iraq but not yet convinced it is possible to defeat the occupation outright.

Oppose ANZ's war profiteering in Iraq...



ANZ posts record $3.7b profit - ABC NEWS 26 October 2006
ANZ: IRAQ WAR PROFITEER by Murray Horton
More ANZ Banks in Sydney CBD Forced to Close - September 2005
Report: The Forbes convergence
Who Profits? Who Pays? Corporate Australia in Iraq - Melbourne Indymedia
Who Profits? Who Pays?