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| Passive versus Proactive: The Construction of the Bank Green Governance Index and its Impact on Returns and Risk from the Perspective of Dual Governance |
| LIANG Qi, LI Wenyu, YU Fengyan
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School of Economics, Nankai University;
College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University |
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Abstract Achieving sustainable development goals has become all the more important as environmental challenges increase. It involves mobilizing extensive funds and improving the resource allocation incentive mechanism. Thus, in addition to government interventions such as taxation and subsidies, financial institutions, particularly commercial banks, must contribute positively. Accelerating the development of green banking requires in-depth and systematic evaluations of the banks' green governance level. In-depth evaluations refer to distinguishing between banks' proactive and passive green practices, and systematic evaluations involve identifying the dual role of banks as “green governors” or “the green governed.” Although widely adopted, the current green evaluation indexes of commercial banks fail to address these issues, which may lead banks to “be stricter with others” and conceal the impetus to continuously boosting green bank development.
Thus, based on the dual role of banks as both governors and the governed in green development, and by distinguishing their proactive versus passive green practices, we construct an evaluation system of bank green governance. We calculate the Green Governance Index of 50 leading commercial banks in China over the 2005-2020 period. We find that first, this index increases gradually and the gap between different types of banks is reduced. Second, proactive and passive green practices jointly determine the overall green level of the banking sector. Finally, we find that “system construction,” “green effects,” or “organizational structure” are successively becoming the main drivers of green governance in these banks. We also investigate how green governance influences banks' returns and risk. We find that (1) an improvement in green governance does not impact a bank's profitability, but can significantly mitigate its risk; (2) green reputation and green costs are two important mechanisms underlying the bank's green governance effects; and (3) a bank's proactive green practices, its role as a green governor, and the green governance of national banks play more important roles in improving performance.
Our findings provide vital insights for practices. First,the government intervention and the market power should dynamically coordinate to mutually promote high-quality green bank construction. Government regulators should clarify the bottom line through green finance policies, provide an external impetus for green bank development, and induce banks the freedom to explore new green governance models and enhance green collaboration among various types of financial institutions. In market terms, commercial banks should effectively utilize their discretion in green governance, fully leverage their initiative and creativity, and largely strengthen their internal green governance forces. Second, the support system for bank green governance can be improved, to more efficiently convert environmental benefits into economic benefits. The green reputation mechanism can be enhanced, by means of establishing external green communication platforms, increasing green bank visibility, and expanding stakeholders' perceptions of green banking concepts and actions through media networks. Green financial supporting policies can also be optimized, to alleviate banks green cost burden and avoid the potential distortion of green governance effects.
Our study also advances literature on green bank on several fronts. First, we construct a green governance evaluation system for commercial banks from organizational management, institutional construction , and green effectiveness dimensions, and establish two sets of sub-indexes, for passive and proactive green governance and for the green governor and the green governed. We therefore comprehensively depict the evolution of China's green banking system. Second, we identify that green reputation and green costs are key channels through which banks can successfully transform green governance into economic benefits. This can guide banks in exploring a development path that balances environmental benefits and financial performance and enhancing their internal motivation to promote green governance. Third, we investigate the different roles of the government and the market in cultivating green bank system in China, which helps to clarify the optimal boundary between the two.Our study therefore helps to explore the synergy effect of a “promising government” and an “effective market” in promoting the high-quality development of green banks.
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Received: 06 May 2022
Published: 02 July 2023
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