CSR-disclosures in the banking industry - A dive into the Swedish development

Abstract

With little social and environmental e ects caused directly by its operations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the banking industry and the corresponding disclosures deviate from other industries. For the past two decades, there has been a rapid growth of CSR-disclosures in the global banking industry and research in the eld is increasing. However, few researchers have investigated the characteristics and the development of banks' CSR-disclosures within a speci c country. This report contributes to the research area by developing and applying a model especially designed for CSR-disclosures in the banking industry. The model allows for multiple layers of analysis and a deeper understanding compared to conventional content analysis. The study covers disclosures made by the four major Swedish banks from 2010 to 2019 and the ndings show that social and environmental disclosures more than doubled over the period. We can show that there are signi cant di erences among the banks in terms of areas covered and volume disclosed and that the increase in disclosures over the period was made with a preserved level of detail. The ndings suggest that CSR-disclosures made in the Swedish banking sector to a large extent go beyond what is required by principles and regulations and the development is more likely explained by stakeholder pressure and legitimacy gaps.