Governance mechanisms for sustainable lending: an exploratory study of existing practices

ABSTRACT

This is an exploratory study which investigates the governance mechanisms created by banks to support the implementation of sustainable lending. A content analysis of the websites of the 62 members of the Global Banking Alliance on Values reveals that evidence-based disclosures demonstrate the commitment of some banks to govern their sustainable lending activities. The publication of the list of loan borrowers emerged as a governance-by-disclosure mechanism in the implementation of sustainable lending. The publication of loan borrowers has contributed to the improvement of information asymmetry in the banking industry. It was also demonstrated how shared values among stakeholders could contribute to the development ofeffective governance mechanisms. Based on the content analyses, the study concludes with two recommendations. First, the banking industry should consider the publication of loan borrowers to promote discipline within the banking sector. Second, the published information provides evidence to the promotion of sustainability practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable lending
• governance
• disclosure
• environment
• society

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).