Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to measure social and environmental responsibility in the commercial activities of banks (external CSR performance)—in contrast to other models based on internal stakeholders—and define to what extent it is influenced by a bank’s size, banking model or business specialization. The banking sector is composed of diverse entities, which is not usually considered when social and environmental responsibility is defined and measured. Business risks and impacts of small- and medium-sized entities oriented to the commercial retail market are different from those of universal banks—which are highly diversified—both in financial and sustainable terms. Thus, the way CSR is being addressed by the banking industry should be reviewed to determine if there are diverse intra-sectorial approaches. An empirical analysis of European banks suggests that the current homogenization of the banking industry is unfavorable in terms of sustainability and responsibility.
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Notes
- 1.
This study is partially based on EIRIS data. A detailed description of this rating agency and the information provided can be found in Sect. 3.3.
- 2.
Internal or structural CSR refers to aspects not exclusive to banking business such as corporate governance , human resources, internal environmental management , community involvement and sponsorship, and so on.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
Cluster 1 is composed by Banco Santander, Barclays PLC, BNP Paribas SA, Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, EFG International AG, HSBC Holdings PLC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, Societe Generale SA, UBS AG, UniCredit SpA.
Cluster 2 is composed by Allied Irish Banks plc, Alpha Bank S.A., Banca Carige SpA, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, Banca Popolare di Milano, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A., Banco BPI S.A., Banco Comercial Portugues S.A., Banco de Valencia S.A., Banco Espanol de Credito S.A., Banco Espirito Santo S.A., Banco Popolare Societa Cooperativa, Banco Popular Espanol S.A., Bank of Ireland, Bankinter S.A., Commerzbank AG, Credit Agricole S.A., Danske Bank, Deutsche Postbank AG, Dexia S.A., DNB ASA, EFG Eurobank Ergasias S.A., Erste Group Bank AG, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, KBC Groep NV, Lloyds Banking Group PLC, Mediobanca Group, National Bank of Greece, Natixis S.A., Nordea Bank AB, Provident Financial plc, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB, Standard Chartered PLC, Svenska Handelsbanken AB, Swedbank AB, UBI Banca Scpa.
- 7.
The Equator Principles , promoted by the International Finance Corporation, is ‘a risk management framework, adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in projects. It is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due diligence to support responsible risk decision-making’ (www.equator-principles.com ).
- 8.
In the case of year 2014, there are fewer data available for several indicators and companies.
Abbreviations
- A4::
-
ASSET4 ESG database
- ANOVA::
-
Analysis of variance
- CSR::
-
Corporate social responsibility
- ESG::
-
Environment, social and governance
- EU::
-
European Union
- ROE::
-
Return on equity
- SME::
-
Small and medium enterprises
- UK::
-
United Kingdom
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Fernández-Olit, B., de la Cuesta-González, M., Holgado, F.P. (2018). Social and Environmental Responsibility in the Banking Industry: A Focus on Commercial Business. In: Walker, T., Kibsey, S.D., Crichton, R. (eds) Designing a Sustainable Financial System. Palgrave Studies in Sustainable Business In Association with Future Earth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-66387-6_3
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