Sustainable development as a new strategy for commercial banks
Introduction. The relationship between sustainability and the banking sector has evolved through applications of this concept leading to operational reforms, which has become one of the dominant themes in business over the last few years. Purpose. The purpose of this article is to improve the theoretical and methodological principles of bank management in the context of sustainable development. Methods. The research is based on the dialectical approach and system approach that are used to study changes and trends in the bank management in the context of sustainable development. The article also utilises other scientific methods such as comparison, analysis, synthesis and scientific abstraction. Results. There exist two points of view: according to the first one, banks are the objects in the global process of sustainable development paradigm dissemination; and according to the second one, banks are the agents of implementation of the principles and criteria of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development in the banking sector. We have divided scientific approaches to the role of banks in the dissemination of the sustainable development paradigm into three groups: the neutral position, the active position and the approach based on a compromise between both. Conclusions. The results suggest that corporate social responsibility can significantly impact on banks’ and corporations’ borrowing activities within credit risk assessment and management.