Bankernas roll i ett hållbart samhälle : om bankers CSR-arbete

Lately it has become more common to question the companies’ actions in how they affect their surroundings. Today, the expression “Corporate Social Responsibility” often is mentioned in this connection. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), is a concept whereby companies voluntarily integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operation. In Sweden there is a big difference between different businesses when it comes to their Corporate Social Responsibility. The Swedish finance companies, for example, have not come very far when it comes to CSR. The fact that Sweden is behind many countries when it comes to CSR and the fact that the finance companies is among the worst in this area made us interested in investigating how banks work with Corporate Social Responsibility and what they are good at and what they have to improve in regard to that work. The purpose with this paper is to study and compare the work Swedish banks do in taking their Corporate Social Responsibility. By comparing the Swedish banks among themselves and in relations with a bank that internationally is associated with good CSR work it will be possible to distinguish where the banks may have some shortcomings. In this study we have chosen to conduct a deductive and a qualitative approach as the purpose is to interpret and understand the banks’ engagement and interest in Corporate Social Responsibility on the basis of the theoretical frame of reference. The main theories the study is based on are the Triple Bottom Line Theory and the Stakeholder Theory. The empirical material for this study has foremost been collected through a survey of the banks’ homepages and annual reports. Furthermore, semi-structured e-mail and telephone interviews were carried out to obtain a deeper understanding of the subject. Five banks are included in the study: Nordea, Swedbank, Handelsbanken, SEB and ABN AMRO. The conclusion of this thesis is that the Swedish banks work with CSR but they do to a limited extent. Comparing to the Dutch bank ABN AMRO there is a big difference. The largest differences between the Swedish banks and the Dutch bank are the fundamental values and strategies. ABN AMRO points out CSR as the bank’s basic view while the Swedish banks mainly focus on maximization of profits. ABN AMRO has a comprehensive view that does not separate sustainability from the business operations while the Swedish banks look upon CSR as something that has to be added to the business operations