Abstract
The causes of the 2008 financial crisis were numerous, but one aspect which has gained considerable attention has been the ethical behavior of bank employees across all levels. A number of studies have highlighted the unethical practices that were engaged in by some members of the banking profession and the incentives that may have been in place to encourage such behavior. In addition to recommendations to improve ethical behavior in mainstream banks, which have largely been accepted by the industry, there has also been renewed interest in alternative models of banking which may already exhibit the characteristics necessary for banking to be considered ethical. One such model is that of social banking. Social banks are those with an explicit objective, in their mission statements, of creating social benefit in addition to financial or economic benefit. Such banks are few in number, and the size of the sector is small, but increasing attention is being focused on them to try and determine whether they represent a viable model for new banks entering the sector. The renewed interest in sustainable finance and socially responsible investment means that, although academic research into social banking is limited, at present, significant opportunities for new research are likely to emerge in the coming years.
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Gower, P. (2020). Social Banks. In: San-Jose, L., Retolaza, J., van Liedekerke, L. (eds) Handbook on Ethics in Finance. International Handbooks in Business Ethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00001-1_20-1
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