Determinants of corporate voluntary disclosure in a transition economy

Why banks should be concerned about incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in the lending process? What is the motivation? This study aims to find the motives for considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in bank lending process. A primary survey has been conducted to know the current status and motivation for incorporating ESG factors in investment decisions. Sample comprised 30 private commercial banks (PCBs) operating in Bangladesh. Data collected were analyzed with graphs, descriptive statistics, and regression analysis. Findings of the study indicate that banks are mostly considering basic environmental, social and governance factors set by regulators qualitatively. They are lagging behind in considering the advanced ESG criteria needed for sustainable and efficient credit risk management. Based on motivation for incorporating ESG factors, it was found that banks pioneering in incorporating ESG factors in lending decisions are compensated through better financial performance. Findings of the study are expected to encourage practitioners and policy-makers to take more pragmatic steps to incorporate ESG risk factors quantitatively in lending decision-making process.

The aim of this paper is to illuminate the role of the socio-economic, cultural and religious context in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of banks in Bangladesh. The authors utilize content analysis of annual reports and websites of banks to identify CSR activities in healthcare, education and financial inclusion sectors. Structuration theory (ST) is used to explain how interactions between bank managers (as agents) with the social structures (institutions and government) shape CSR practices. The findings show that banks’ engagement in CSR activities is embedded in the social fabric of Bangladesh and not a result of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). It is also noted that Islamic banks focus their CSR activities on social justice, while other banks target education and other humanitarian issues. The authors contribute to the literature on the determinants of CSR by revealing the rationalizations of different actors in the production and reproduction of CSR practices in Bangladesh, an insight attributed to ST. The researchers conclude that Islamic beliefs influenced managers to mitigate poverty through CSR investments.

As the number of smart phone users and the popularity of Internet among people are growing day by day in Bangladesh, it became necessary for Bangladeshi local banks to provide mobile banking services to their customers. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the crucial and determining factors that may affect the intention of customers to use mobile banking services. The sample size in this study is 91, in which majority are the students of Business Studies. All respondents have mobile banking at the time of the survey. The samples in the study were mainly drawn from the private university students (i.e. Business Administration students) and faculty members, and some bank officers participated as sample respondents in this study. A non-probability random sampling method is applied, and a 5% significance level is used to accept the hypotheses. Cronbach alpha (α) of 0.7 and above is considered to measure the reliability of the item wise variables. This study examines six variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust, security, perceived privacy, and technology competency) to analyze their impact on the behavioral intention of banking customers to use mobile banking services. Three variables, namely perceived usefulness, security, and technology competency, are found to be significant predictors of customers’ intent to use mobile banking in Bangladesh. For analytical purposes, SPSS version 23.0 is used to test hypotheses. The paper also provides significant implications for bank managers to increase the adoption of mobile banking for their sustainability.