Some of the world’s biggest companies are outraged by a website link launched by US regulators aimed at exposing which of them could be “indirectly subsidising a terrorist state”.
The Securities and Exchange Commission this week linked to a list of five countries – Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria – designated by the State Department as “sponsors of terrorism”.
By clicking on each country, investors see a list of companies that mention that country in their latest annual reports. The companies are mostly non-US and include Unilever, Cadbury, HSBC, Nokia, Siemens and Total.
Christopher Cox, SEC chairman, described the site as falling under the commission’s investor-protection mission. “No investor should ever have to wonder whether his or her investments or retirement savings are indirectly subsidising a terrorist haven or genocidal state.”
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