The Dutch unit of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development will consider a complaint from three NGO’s against banking giant ING Groep NV’s involvement in the palm oil industry.

Dutch Milieudefensie, Liberian SDI and Indonesian WALHI claimed in July that the Dutch lender continued to finance firms in the industry, even after they had alerted ING about human rights abuses and the environmental impact of the industry.

Over the past two years, palm oil has emerged as a flashpoint in a potential trade conflict between the European Union and producers from Indonesia to Malaysia...

ING has accepted the OECD’s offer to arrange talks with the groups, a spokesman for the bank said by email, adding that OECD hasn’t published a conclusion on the matter yet...

The EU accounted for 12% of Malaysia’s palm oil exports in 2018, making it the biggest buyer after India, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board. The Netherlands is the biggest EU importer of the commodity from Malaysia.