Corporate social responsibility in banking. Its application to the case of the cooperative bank

Abstract

The concept of CSR and its dimensions depend on the particular characteristics of the economic sector in which companies operate. This means that the definition of CSR and its application is conditioned on how it works, is measured and implemented in the context in which it takes action. For this reason, to analyze the behavior of CSR in cooperative banking, which is the objective of this paper, it is essential to achieve a study on the implications and particularities of CSR in the banking sector, that is, in the whole of denominated credit institutions. The cooperative banks, better known in Spain as cooperatives credit, have traditionally played a prominent role in the field of CSR, due to their proximity banking status (rooted in the territory) and cooperative enterprise (focused on people and the community). Although its weight in the banking sector has not been very significant (between 7% and 5% according to deposits and loans, respectively), they have played a key role in financing the productive economy, especially in sectors with higher access difficulties to credit, such as the rural sector and small and medium-sized enterprises. For these reasons, it has been considered appropriate to analyze the application of CSR to the particular case of this type of organization. A qualitative analysis has been carried out, with the aim of highlighting the specific terms the banking sector in general and cooperative banking, in particular, focus their economic activity on CSR and how they do it.