A rescued pangolin purchased from a wildlife seller rests at the Green Finger Garden on July 29, 2020 in Lagos, Nigeria. Portal/Seun Sanni acquire license rights
SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Oct 23 (Portal) – Three listed Chinese drugmakers whose investors include or use some of the world’s largest banks used parts of endangered animals as ingredients in their products, an environmental group said in a report published on Monday.
The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) asked investors in Beijing Tong Ren Tang Group (600085.SS), Tianjin Pharmaceutical Group (600329.SS) and Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group (000623.SZ) to divest their shares .
Beijing Tong Ren Tang and Tianjin drug companies did not respond to emails or calls from Portal seeking comment. Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group could not be reached for comment.
The three are among 72 companies that have used body parts of endangered leopards and pangolins as ingredients in at least 88 traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products, according to the nonprofit EIA.
The group said it focused on pharmaceutical companies because they were publicly traded and showed products containing leopard or pangolin parts on their websites.
TCM manufacturers often publicly tout the effectiveness of such ingredients and list them on their product packaging.
“It is particularly disappointing to see that so many major banks and financial institutions are actually supporting this harmful exploitation,” said Avinash Basker, legal and policy specialist at EIA, in a media release.
“They must divest from TCM manufacturers who use endangered species as soon as possible.”
Beijing Tong Ren Tang and Tianjin drug companies did not respond to multiple emails and calls from Portal seeking comment. Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group could not be reached for comment.
According to the EIA, 62 financial institutions have invested in at least one of the three companies, including HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L), UBS (UBSG.S), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Citigroup (CN) and BlackRock (BLK). N).
Some investors, including Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), said they had either sold the funds invested in the TCM firms or their shares in the companies, EIA said.
HSBC Global Asset Management Canada and Royal Bank of Canada told EIA that their investments in the companies were limited to passive or tracker funds.
UBS told EIA that its equity holdings were held on behalf of clients.
EIA said Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, Citigroup and BlackRock did not respond to its queries.
DWS, the asset management arm of Deutsche Bank, has no exposure to the three drugmakers through its actively managed funds, a spokesman said, noting that it is important to work with issuers and index providers to achieve ESG improvements without the stake the bank about passive funds.
Citi’s holdings are mostly client-related activities rather than proprietary investments, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Portal. Citi declined to comment.
BlackRock declined to comment.
The activist group called on the Chinese government to ban the use of parts of endangered animals for all commercial purposes in its domestic markets.
China’s National Medical Products Administration did not respond to a Portal request for comment.
China’s amended wildlife protection law came into effect in May. It prohibits the trade of most wild animals for food consumption, but permits for breeding and use can still be granted under certain circumstances.
Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai and Selena Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Jason Neely
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