A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN MAJOR INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ON CSR AND REGULATORY REPORTING FRAMEWORK ON CSR IN BANKING SECTOR OF BANGLADESH

Qazi Mutmainna Tahmida and Shakila Yasmin

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A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN MAJOR INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ON CSR AND REGULATORY REPORTING FRAMEWORK ON CSR IN BANKING SECTOR OF BANGLADESH

 

Qazi Mutmainna Tahmida[1], Shakila Yasmin[2]

*Corresponding author E-mail: shakila@iba-du.edu

 

A R T I C L E  I N F O

Article Type: Research

Received: 27, July. 2020.

Accepted: 10, Aug. 2020.

Published: 11, Aug. 2020.

 

 A B S T R A C T

CSR activities of banks in Bangladesh were brought under the regulatory scope in 2008 when Bangladesh Bank (BB) issued policy guidance on mainstreaming CSR in banks. Following this guidance, a regulatory reporting framework was circulated in 2010 and a performance report on “gender equality” was introduced in 2011 for banks. In 2014, another indicative guideline was issued following which a revised regulatory reporting framework was circulated in 2015. For assessing the level of their effectiveness, objective comparative analysis has been made in this paper between ‘International Standards’ for benchmarking the CSR performance of institutions and the ‘Regulatory Reporting Framework’ of BB on CSR. This study uses an exploratory approach, which helps to generate some new insight, may then be taken as a basis for further theoretical development or for a reexamination of existing theories. As per BB  prioritization, this study evaluates the regulatory reporting framework with the GRI standards and Equator Principles (EP) for the adaptation by banks, along with relevant guidelines, journals, articles etc. The paper intends to propose some ‘doable’ for banks and regulators for uplifting regulatory reporting framework on CSR to the level of international standards. From the comparative analysis, it is found that the concept of and format used for CSR reporting is still not totally attuned with international standards.
Keywords:

CSR, Banking, Bangladesh, GRI, Equator Principles, Regulatory Reporting

[1] Quzi Mutmainna Tahmida, student DBA Program, Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka.

[2] Dr. Shakila Yasmin, Associate Professor, Institute of Business Administration, University of Dhaka.

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