The ESG washing in banks: Evidence from the syndicated loan market

Kuo-Jui Huang, Dien Giau Bui, Yuan-Teng Hsu and Chih-Yung Lin

Journal of International Money and Finance, 2024, vol. 142, issue C

Abstract: We investigate whether banks practice environmental, social, and governance (ESG) washing in their lending decisions and how the market reacts. That is, do banks with worse ESG performance intentionally lend to firms with better ESG performance to improve their ESG reputations? Banks with worse ESG performance offer significantly lower loan spreads, longer loan maturities, fewer general covenants, and fewer collaterals to firms with better ESG performance. More importantly, the stock market generally reacts favorably to banks that make these kinds of deals, which could explain why banks engage in ESG washing. We also find that the effects of ESG washing are significantly stronger for borrowers from high-polluting industries and in the post-Kyoto Protocol period. These results support the idea that the banks with worse ESG performance use ESG-washing lending to improve their ESG reputations.

Keywords: ESG; Syndicated loan; Market reactions; Kyoto Protocol; Bank sustainability performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G21 G32 M14 Q51 Q52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jimfin:v:142:y:2024:i:c:s0261560624000305

DOI: 10.1016/j.jimonfin.2024.103043

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