Friends Fiduciary urges PayPal to open its services to customers in conflict affected regions

Friends Fiduciary has co-filed a shareholder proposal, with lead filer Deborah Sanger, at PayPal requesting the Board establish a policy ensuring people in conflict zones, such as Palestine, do not suffer discriminatory exclusion from the company’s financial services.

Shareholders have raised this issue in past years, concerned by PayPal’s decision to exclude services to millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, while simultaneously providing services throughout the state of Israel, including to illegal Israeli settlements across the West Bank. Support for this Resolution is in the best interest of shareholders because extending PayPal’s services to Palestinians creates a new market opportunity with millions of new customers, the Palestinian financial sector would welcome PayPal’s services and meets all international security standards, PayPal has experience providing services in other conflict affected regions, and PayPal’s decision to deny access specifically to the Palestinian population can be perceived as discriminatory, creating reputational risk.

PayPal has navigated opening its services to customers in conflict affected regions before, peers have similarly been successful in opening services to Palestinians in the region, and there is a clear financial services void for the Palestinian population that PayPal is uniquely positioned to fill.

The letter to shareholders in support of the proposal can be found here and the shareholder proposal is Item 5, included on page 105, in the company proxy statement found here. PayPal’s annual general meeting is on May 19, 2026.