Donald Trump’s screeching U-turn on the war in Ukraine — which the US president now says can “fight and win” all its land back — may be stark. But he is not alone in reassessing the practicalities of conflict.
French bank BNP has relaxed its policy on financing warfare, dropping a ban on “controversial weapons”. It is not the first to do so. Other lenders and asset managers have moderated what were once vetoes, or expanded the pool of what they consider acceptable defence-related stocks.
For financiers, two things have changed. Defence has been reinterpreted as a public good in the face of bellicose…
