CSR IN AMERICAN BANKING SECTOR

Abstract

Corporate social responsibility has become a natural feature of the banking sector. One of the first, which began to adhere to the CSR policy was the American market. They have looked for many positive correlations between finance, the environment and society. Unfortunately, the slogans do not always go hand in hand with deeds. Sometimes it happens that even the most successful institutions will fall on the CSR path. This article aims to bring the viewpoint of CSR in the US banking sector and will allow to verify the hypothesis of the growing importance of CSR reporting in recent years and also the existing dissonance between reporting information and current activity. The article presents examples of banks that are very much involved in all socially responsible areas, but the author also cites black pages of the CSR history of these institutions. The author reviewed the portfolio of the surveyed banks in terms of compliance with the CSR objectives. The analysis is based on banks’ reports on sustainable development, global reports of international organizations, which take care subject-matter of social responsibility, sustainable development or ethics. Based on the analysis of the activities of the surveyed banks and observing the increase in the number of ESG reports and the diverse form of communication of the effectiveness of activities of individual banks, it should be emphasized that a positive trend related to the positive impact of CSR on the financial sector is noticeable.