Triple pillars of sustainable finance: The role of green finance, CSR, and digitalization in bank performance in Bangladesh

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This study examines the impact of sustainable finance factors on bank performance in Bangladesh. It utilizes annual data from 24 listed commercial banks in Bangladesh from 2016 to 2022. It focuses on three sustainable finance factors: green finance, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and digitalization. These factors ensure sustainable finance practices by prioritizing eco-friendly investments, responsible business operations, operational efficiency, and reduced resource consumption rather than focusing solely on short-term profit maximization. Return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) are used to measure the performance of commercial banks. This study incorporates default rate and bank size as control variables to consider inherent risk and operational scale, resulting in a more precise evaluation of the impact of digitization, CSR, and green financing on bank performance. Traditional and dynamic panel regression models, including feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) and random effects models, are applied to ensure robust findings. The findings indicate that green finance exhibits an insignificant impact on bank performance. However, corporate social responsibility (CSR) demonstrates a statistically significant positive effect on ROE through positive marketing, enhancing reputation, and building shareholder loyalty towards banks. Conversely, digitalization shows a statistically significant negative effect on performance, implying that initial implementation costs and challenges may outweigh the benefits. In addition, control variables, including default rate and bank size, exhibit a statistically significant negative relationship with performance measures. This suggests that higher default rates indicate increased credit risk and financial losses, while larger bank sizes may lead to inefficiencies due to agency costs and organizational complexities.

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    • Table 1. Variable description
    • Table 2. Descriptive statistics
    • Table 3. Correlation matrix
    • Table 4. Regression results of the impact of sustainable finance on the performance of commercial banks (Feasible Generalized Least Squares)
    • Table 5. Regression result of the impact of sustainable finance on the performance of commercial banks (Random Effect Model)
    • Table A1. List of commercial banks included in the sample
    • Conceptualization
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, Priya Saha
    • Data curation
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, K. M. Anwarul Islam, Priya Saha
    • Formal Analysis
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan
    • Investigation
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, Tawfiq Taleb Tawfiq, Priya Saha
    • Methodology
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, Priya Saha
    • Project administration
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan
    • Resources
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, K. M. Anwarul Islam, Tawfiq Taleb Tawfiq, Priya Saha
    • Software
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, K. M. Anwarul Islam, Priya Saha
    • Supervision
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan
    • Validation
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, K. M. Anwarul Islam, Priya Saha
    • Visualization
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, Tawfiq Taleb Tawfiq, Priya Saha
    • Writing – original draft
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, Priya Saha
    • Writing – review & editing
      Shaikh Masrick Hasan, K. M. Anwarul Islam, Tawfiq Taleb Tawfiq, Priya Saha
    • Funding acquisition
      Tawfiq Taleb Tawfiq