Decker, Olufemi and Kingdom, Joy (2021) Banks and the Sustainable Development Goals. In: Idowu, Samuel, Schmidpeter, René, Capaldi, Nicholas, Zu, Liangrong, Baldo, Mara Del and Abreu, Rute, (eds.) Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management. Springer Reference . Springer, Cham. ISBN 978-3030020064 (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-02006-4)

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Abstract

Banks combine deposit taking with credit creation and payments services and are the primary financial institutions in most countries. Although there are international differences in the structure of financial systems, banks play a key role in channelling funds to productive investments and in facilitating payments. As such they do not only have a major role to play in supporting economic growth, they are also crucial for funding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) financing gap. Furthermore, their capacity to widen access to financial services is crucial to enabling progress towards achieving several of the SDGs. However, bank failure and financial instability can threaten progress towards sustainable development because of recessionary effects and also because of the fiscal strain that government bailouts could cause, diverting funds away from the SDGs. Through widespread adoption of the Equator principles and other initiatives, banks have contributed indirectly towards the SDGs environmental goals but there is less evidence of their social impact. While it is challenging to make banks more resilient and promote their sustainable management, reforms introduced by governments and regulators after the 2008 financial crisis aim to improve regulatory governance and strengthen the global financial architecture. These steps provide helpful guidance and incentives for banks to contribute effectively to the SDGs.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	banks; inclusive banking; banking; financial intermediation; SDGs
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Business Greenwich Business School > Political Economy, Governance, Finance and Accountability (PEGFA)
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2024 16:08
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/28252

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