Corporate social responsibility in commercial banking - A case study from the Czech Republic

Abstract

The concept of corporate social responsibility is not new in the banking sector, but nowadays, it becomes highly topical since the crisis has significantly highlighted the need for integration of moral principles in the banking business. Knowledge of business practice indicates the fact that the acceptance of moral principles in business is not integrated into management decisions of companies. It also cannot be accepted that self-regulatory instruments of companies such as CSR will be effective. The existing experience with the implementation of CSR and ethical principles in the banking sector leads to the opinion that the social responsibility of banks and ethics in banking sector are perceived as an appropriate marketing tool for public communication and are not integrated into policies of individual commercial banks. Experience with the crisis demonstrated that there is a lack of moral principles of managers’ decisions. The aim of this article is to introduce theoretical aspects of CSR in commercial banking and measure the level of CSR in selected Czech commercial banks. In the article, the CSR index was calculated for Česká spořitelna, Československá obchodní banka, Komerční banka and GE Money Bank. Results of our research confirmed that the CSR index of selected Czech commercial banks achieves only an average level. There is a significant lack of transparent information in the context of CSR areas.