Religious investors win SEC fight over bank resolution on Indigenous rights

March 10, 2025 — The SEC has sided with an order of New Jersey nuns in a dispute with Wall Street bank Citi, which tried to stop shareholders from voting for a fourth year on their resolution on Indigenous rights. The SEC also rejected Wells Fargo’s attempt to stop a similar resolution going before its shareholders, which has been filed by the American Home Baptist Mission Societies.

Citi filed a no-action letter at the SEC stating the resolution should be dropped since it had already implemented it – by publishing a report last year on risks to Indigenous rights. But the SEC rejected the report and met shareholders’ demands, stating: “based on the information you have presented, it appears that the Company’s public disclosures do not substantially implement the proposal”.

Citi has been desperate to silence the nuns’ resolution, which has become a thorn in the bank’s side. For three years, the resolution by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace has attracted support from over one in four Citi investors who shared their concerns that the bank should account for the impact of its oil and gas funding on Indigenous communities. 

The Citi report – entitled Respecting the Rights of Indigenous People – in fact highlights how the bank is failing to act on risks to Indigenous rights: of the 16 companies it flags as posing risks, none have been refused funding or services by the bank. Of the 37 projects which the bank identified as posing a risk to Indigenous rights, Citi refused funding for just seven.

Wells Fargo attempted to have its Indigenous rights resolution knocked off, saying the SEC’s recent advice that proposals may be excluded if they do not significantly relate to a company’s operations. The SEC rejected this, stating: “We are unable to concur in your view”.

The Sisters’ resolution details funding Citi has committed to the highly indebted state-owned Petroperú, which operates the controversial Norperuano pipeline. The company also wants to develop the highly contested Block 64–a pristine part of the Peruvian Amazon–which lacks the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous nations. Just last October, Petroperú’s pipeline leaked 6,000 liters of oil in the Pastaza River in the Amazon basin, contaminating crucial fishing areas and causing food insecurity for several communities. 

Citi has poured $2.32 billion into oil and gas activities in the Amazon rainforest over the past 20 years, according to a report from last year. The bank’s exclusion on project-related financing for Amazon oil and gas expansion would likely not apply to corporate financing for Petroperú.

Both resolutions focus on the banks’ financing for Enbridge, which is behind the biggest inland oil spills in U.S. history and the controversial Line 5 pipeline in Michigan, which the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has said should be decommissioned. At last year’s Citi annual shareholders meeting, the Sisters’ resolution was presented by Juan Mancias, tribal chairman of the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of South Texas, which is opposing Enbridge’s plans to build the Rio Bravo pipeline on his ancestral lands to feed fracked gas into the Rio Grande LNG facility.

A third Indigenous rights resolution has also been filed at JP Morgan Chase, but did not face a no action letter from the bank.

Quotes

“We are delighted that the SEC has backed shareholders and allowed the vote to go ahead on our resolution, which aims to assess the bank’s effectiveness in mitigating risk to investors when it comes to the impacts on Indigenous Peoples and their lands. Citi was clearly trying to silence shareholders, but it is important that investors have their say and express their views on this important issue. Citi has a responsibility to mitigate risk for investors. As faith-based investors, we have a responsibility to follow Church teaching to care for Earth and protect human dignity. We take our role seriously and we want Citi to take theirs seriously.” – Sister Susan Francois, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace, Citi shareholders and lead filer on the Indigenous rights resolution

“We, the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, have lived through ecological devastation, witnessed decades of pollution, and faced repeated threats to our self-determination due to spills caused by oil companies like Petroperú and their financiers, such as Citi. Citi attempts to portray the supposed effectiveness of its climate policies, while in reality, its clients continue trying to open new oil fields without addressing any of the damage they have caused. We dedicate our lives to defending our territories against oil exploitation. In truth, Citi is doing nothing genuinely effective to avoid harming our rights and minimizes its role as an oil investor.”  – Olivia Bisa, President of the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Chapra Nation, in the North Peruvian Amazon Basin

“We applaud the SEC for refusing to cave to the Trump administration’s pressure to silence investors. Citi’s attempted block of this proposal was a cowardly move to dodge investor scrutiny of its Indigenous Rights commitments. Now it’s up to Citi’s shareholders to demand meaningful protections of Indigenous Peoples’ Rights from the bank, beyond mere disclosures.” – Hannah Saggau, Senior Climate Finance Campaigner at Stand.earth

“Indigenous Peoples continue to expose the reprehensible role Citi and its clients play in driving the destruction of their communities in the Peruvian Amazon, the Gulf South, and across the globe. Their organizing is working – Citi fears further exposure of these efforts to their investors. Citi’s failed attempt to actively de-platform and silence the voices of outspoken environmental defenders to appease the new administration should alarm its shareholders, who bear a responsibility to scrutinize the visceral implications of their investments on people and the planet.” – Mary Mijares, Corporate Campaigns Manager at Amazon Watch 

“We are both relieved and pleased with the SEC’s ruling, which protects shareholders’ rights to have our proposal reviewed and voted on—a right Wells Fargo attempted to block. Our proposal raises a critical issue: the company’s failure to assess the significant risks posed by its actions and policies toward Indigenous Peoples’ rights. By ignoring these risks, Wells Fargo is not only compromising its own reputation but also exposing itself to serious financial and operational vulnerabilities. As investors, we believe it is crucial that the company take immediate action to address these concerns and safeguard its long-term stability. As a faith-based institution, ABHMS has and will continue to engage with Wells Fargo in the spirit of our mission to protect and address human rights concerns and interests.” – Gina Haas, American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS)