Corporate Social Resposability in the Financial Sector: Are Financial Cooperatives Ready to the Challenge?

Résumé 0

"After the crash of financial institutions and the negative effects of the financial crisis, financial service cooperatives (FSCs) emerged as good performer compared to commercial banks. But this condition will not be enough to face the challenges that the new financial panorama will bring on the banking arena. Among them, challenges related to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) sphere will play a special role. In Canada, the financial regulatory framework forces some federal institutions to publish information on social responsibility. Although FSCs are not forced to disclose information they need to provide CSR information to show their role as an institution capable of innovating in sustainable matters. This work analyses public communications of Canadian FSCs to determine the degree of inclusion of CSR information requested from financial institutions. Results show that the CSR Canadian legal framework has a reduced impact on FSCs communication practices, although with significant differences among them."