{"id":259040,"date":"2026-01-11T22:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceoworld.biz\/?p=259040"},"modified":"2026-01-11T22:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:44:38","slug":"when-purpose-goes-too-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ceoworld.biz\/2026\/01\/11\/when-purpose-goes-too-far\/","title":{"rendered":"When \u2018Purpose\u2019 goes too far"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2023, Coutts, a British bank and\u00a0part of the\u00a0NatWest\u00a0group, closed the bank account of Nigel Farage, a prominent UK political figure and now leader of Reform UK. While initially arguing that the closure was for commercial reasons, it\u00a0subsequently\u00a0emerged\u00a0that Farage\u2019s political views were\u00a0an important factor<\/a>\u00a0in the bank wanting to remove him as a client.<\/p>\n

The episode was\u00a0possibly one\u00a0of the most poorly handled corporate issues in the UK. It resulted in not one but two CEOs losing their jobs \u2013 justifiably in my view.<\/p>\n

In 2019\u00a0Bank of America\u00a0(BofA) and other US banks\u00a0(including Wells Fargo and JP Morgan)\u00a0decided that they would no longer provide banking services to companies that run private prisons due to concerns about the detention of immigrants under President Trump\u2019s first term immigration policies and\u00a0also\u00a0in response to activist pressure. Six years later, BofA has changed tack and is now happy to provide banking services to the sector.<\/p>\n

Citigroup had a policy of not providing banking services to gun manufacturers.\u00a0It recently announced a reversal of that policy.<\/p>\n

The re-election of President Trump has, for many, been a catalyst to declare that society has now passed \u2018peak woke.\u2019 That it had all gone too far \u2013 and way too far ahead of where the majority in society stand. That corporate actions on various social issues were never anything more than performative virtue signalling in the hope that would land well with some customers. Or, even worse, that they\u00a0represented\u00a0a total failure of leadership – CEOs and boards\u00a0simply\u00a0being led by the nose by the noisiest of activists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Politics and Business<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inevitably, this has reignited the debate around whether corporations should become enmeshed in political issues. Those on the progressive side of the political spectrum have, predictably, decried what they describe as a corporate retreat from \u2018doing the right thing.\u2019\u00a0 Superficial thinking at its best.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s\u00a0time to parse\u00a0some of\u00a0the complex, overlapping issues that feed into this debate.<\/p>\n

Let us start with banking. Is it reasonable to withhold banking services from individuals or corporations that have certain political views\u00a0or engage in activities that some of us may disagree with?<\/p>\n

The first point to consider is that banking is an essential service. It is difficult, to say the least, to run one\u2019s life or run a company without access to banking services. In that sense banking is a public utility that is entrusted to private enterprises.\u00a0Those private enterprises therefore have a responsibility and a duty of care that goes beyond what would apply to a less essential service. Debanking can therefore only be a last resort in extreme circumstances and for which banks need to be held to account.<\/p>\n

Those arguing for debanking for political reasons should ask themselves some questions. In terms of essential services, how would you feel if, say, a healthcare system decided it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0going to provide care for anyone with certain political views? If every time someone arrived in the emergency\u00a0room\u00a0they were asked to fill in a questionnaire on their political views\u00a0or what job they held\u00a0with that forming the basis of whether they would get the emergency treatment needed or be cast out on to the streets?<\/p>\n

My suspicion is that most people would not be comfortable with that.<\/p>\n

Political\u00a0views or\u00a0just\u00a0my\u00a0views?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, those who argue that it is right for businesses to take political positions and act accordingly\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0really mean it. What they do mean is that corporations should support\u00a0my\u00a0specific political position because,\u00a0what I happen to believe is, self-evidently,\u00a0the\u00a0only\u00a0right thing to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For instance, how would \u2018progressives\u2019 react if, as a matter of\u00a0moral\u00a0principle, banks refused to provide services to abortion clinics?<\/p>\n

We saw all this unfold during the debate about the\u00a0role\u00a0of ESG in investment management. When\u00a0some US State\u00a0legislators\u00a0introduced\u00a0requirements to consider ESG metrics\u00a0when\u00a0determining\u00a0investment strategies\u00a0for public funds, many\u00a0on the progressive side of the political spectrum applauded. When other States decided to do the opposite\u00a0\u2013\u00a0block from consideration any investment manager that considered ESG metrics as part\u00a0of their investment strategy \u2013\u00a0those same people let out\u00a0howls of\u00a0protest that it is not the job of governments to dictate\u00a0how money is invested.<\/p>\n

It’s\u00a0hard to take any of it seriously.<\/p>\n

\u2018Purpose\u2019\u00a0transmogrified into activism<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much of this\u00a0discussion was given\u00a0a lease of life under the moniker of \u2018corporate purpose.\u2019\u00a0That,\u00a0too,\u00a0is a discussion that needs\u00a0some more\u00a0frank and honest debate.<\/p>\n

As a starting point I would argue that the\u00a0primary\u00a0\u2018purpose\u2019\u00a0of, say, a bank\u00a0is to\u00a0improve people\u2019s lives through the provision of\u00a0banking services.\u00a0Full stop.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is much more to discuss around the\u00a0how\u00a0of providing those services. It should do so honestly,\u00a0have the best financial interests of its clients as its guiding principles, follow\u00a0the letter and the spirit of\u00a0all laws and regulations, not engage in discriminatory practices either in how it runs its own business or with regards to clients, do little or no damage (socially, environmentally, etc). and so forth. Oh \u2013 and to do all that profitably so that it can remain in business.<\/p>\n

May I humbly suggest that many companies might have a way to go before they can comfortably and credibly fulfil even those basic criteria without being expected also to change the world.<\/p>\n

Initiatives such as the B-Corp movement are\u00a0very valuable\u00a0in helping companies with the \u2018how\u2019 of doing business.\u00a0Yet,\u00a0even that can be taken too far. For Coutts, shifting to B-Corp status was one of the frameworks that eventually led to an internal culture that de-banked Mr Farage.<\/p>\n

As regards \u2018purpose\u2019 the reality is that the idea has been hijacked by some as a route to activism for their\u00a0particular cause. It has become a tool to try to recruit companies to support their cause\/s.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is nothing to stop a company deciding that it wishes to be part of an activist cause. Yet doing so crosses a line. It expands a company\u2019s\u00a0role in society\u00a0beyond that which I describe above into one of political activism. That line should be crossed with caution as it may have major implications over time.<\/p>\n

A company such as Patagonia has made environmental activism part of its overall value proposition. It is an integral part of its brand meaning and it has created a community of interest around that brand positioning.<\/p>\n

That process has taken decades. It is woven into the company\u2019s DNA. It is powerful\u00a0precisely\u00a0because it is not easily replicated. That Patagonia consistently comes up as\u00a0the\u00a0example is the best evidence one can have of how vanishingly rare\u00a0is this\u00a0kind\u00a0of approach.\u00a0In the banking sector,\u00a0Triodos\u00a0Bank is trying to build something similar.<\/p>\n

That is all\u00a0very different\u00a0from those who give a laughable nod to \u2018purpose\u2019 by flying the odd rainbow flags over their HQ or temporarily incorporating it into their logo.\u00a0\u00a0Or by jumping onto whatever political bandwagon happens to be fashionable at the time in the hope that it can shift a few more boxes of stuff this quarter.\u00a0Or to bend the knee to single issue activist groups that have become too hot to handle.\u00a0Or to mount internal\u00a0programmes simply because it seems like \u2018the thing to do\u2019 this season only for it all to be unwound (and budgets saved) the moments the winds turn.<\/p>\n

Where to from here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is little doubt that the debate of corporate positions on what can be considered political issues will continue to run. Businesses do not\u00a0operate\u00a0outside society. They need to\u00a0operate\u00a0within acceptable social mores. Yet what those may be, how they shift over time and the differences in outlook across customers and populations all generate challenges for business leaders.<\/p>\n

We are all still learning how best to manage in a highly politicised environment. Those who pretend that the answers are \u2018obvious\u2019\u00a0do not deserve to be taken seriously. How do business leadership teams develop the skills to navigate what can easily become a\u00a0somewhat chaotic, unstable, unpredictable and shark infested political environment?<\/p>\n

\n

Written by Dr Joe Zammit-Lucia<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2023, Coutts, a British bank and\u00a0part of the\u00a0NatWest\u00a0group, closed the bank account of Nigel Farage, a prominent UK political figure and now leader of Reform UK. While initially arguing that the closure was for commercial reasons, it\u00a0subsequently\u00a0emerged\u00a0that Farage\u2019s political views were\u00a0an important factor\u00a0in the bank wanting to remove him as a client. The episode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4942,"featured_media":124626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34462],"tags":[36196,36197,36198,36199,36200,36201,36202,36299,37229,37230,37238],"class_list":["post-259040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-executive-briefing","tag-chief-development-officer-insider","tag-chief-data-officer-insider","tag-chief-delivery-officer-insider","tag-chief-design-officer-insider","tag-chief-digital-officer-insider","tag-chief-diversity-officer-insider","tag-chief-engineering-officer-insider","tag-chief-encouragement-officer-insider","tag-chief-data-security-officer-insider","tag-chief-equity-officer-insider","tag-chief-ecosystem-officer-insider"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen \u2018Purpose\u2019 goes too far - CEOWORLD magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ceoworld.biz\/2026\/01\/11\/when-purpose-goes-too-far\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When \u2018Purpose\u2019 goes too far - CEOWORLD magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 2023, Coutts, a British bank and\u00a0part of the\u00a0NatWest\u00a0group, closed the bank account of Nigel Farage, a prominent UK political figure and now leader of Reform UK. 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His latest book is \u201cThe New Political Capitalism: How businesses and societies can thrive in a deeply politicized world\u201d (Bloomsbury Business, 2022). Previous books have included \u201cThe Death of Liberal Democracy?\u201d and \u201cBacklash: Saving Globalization From Itself.\u201d He is a founder of RADIX \u2013 a not-for-profit public policy think tank, and the RADIX Centre for Business, Politics & Society. His executive experience spanned R&D, marketing, global brand management, strategic planning, industry economics, and public policy. He then founded his own business advisory firm with offices in Cambridge (UK), New York, and Tokyo. He also acted as a Special Advisor to the Director-General at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and was a member of the Dean's Advisory Board at the College of Arts, Sciences and Education, Florida International University. 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