Cutting credit

The Dutch bank ABN Amro will no longer extend credit to clients in the tobacco industry, reports The Guardian.

The Amsterdam-based bank’s decision came as it announced a new partnership with the national Heart Foundation in the fight against smoking, which kills some 20,000 people every year in the country of 17 million, according to a recent study.

“Our core value is that everybody has a right to be healthy,” said Marianne Verhaar, the bank’s director of relationship management for institutions and charitable organizations.

“The core activity of those in the tobacco industry is not compatible with our core values,” she was quoted as saying.

Existing contracts with tobacco industry clients will be respected, but will not be renewed and no new contracts will be signed, an ABM Amro official told Trouw newspaper.

A recent study by SEO Economic Research estimated the cost of smoking to Dutch society at around €2,000 ($2,200) per person per year.