SOMO (the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations) is a Dutch Non-Governmental Organisation which carries out different kinds of research for civil society use. In the period 2003-2004, SOMO has turned its attention to the financial sector, and has conducted research on two financial firms, the U.S. company Citigroup and the Dutch company ING Group. In the case of Citigroup, SOMO thought it was interesting to focus our research on the Asia Pacific region, and we selected researchers in Indonesia to conduct local investigations. The research was carried out as part of our 4-year program ‘Sector Research and Corporate Social Responsibility’, and has been cofinanced by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The other financier of the research was Novib (Oxfam Netherlands).