1、 外文翻译 原文 Corporate Social Responsibility in the Internation al Banking Industry Material Source: Journal of Business Ethics, Vol.13 Author: Bert Scholtens Banks act as nancial intermediaries in our society: they price and value nancial assets, they monitor borrowers, they manage nancial risks and th
2、ey organize the payment system (Greenbaum and Thakor, 2007). By performing these functions, banks have a huge impact on society. They usually require rms and households to adopt certain behavior in order to increase the chances that these lenders will pay interest and amortizations. This has resulte
3、d in an overwhelming amount of literature that assesses how banks affect the economy. The main nding is that the banking system appears to play an important role in economic development (see Levine, 2004). As such, they also may affect sustainable development. The World Commission on Environment and
4、 Development (WCED, 1987), in their report Our Common Future, dened sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Elsewhere (e.g., see Scholtens, 2006) it has been established that banks inde
5、ed do affect sustainable development. Socially responsible banking is becoming a well-established notion in the nancial services industry. Financial institutions are coming round to the idea that there is more to invest than just to check the gures. In the US, every one out of eight dollars invested
6、 is subject to some social or ethical screen (Social Investment Forum, 2006). In most countries, private households have the opportunity to save or invest their money not only on the basis of nancial rewards, but also in the face of the non-monetary value of savings and investments. In many OECD cou
7、ntries, specialized banks offer savings accounts to the public while promising that the savings will be used to nance environmentally sound projects or for operations of entrepreneurs who nd it hard to get access to nance from institutions that are more conventional. Women and minorities have been t
8、argeted specically in this respect in the US based on so-called community investments (Social Investment Forum, 2006). In more than 40 countries including several developing countries like Brazil and South-Africa people can put their savings in socially responsible investment funds that in some way
9、or another check for corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the rms in which they invest (International Finance Corporation, 2003). Banks increasingly are involved with nancing economic activity that aims at sustainable development and offer micro credit to the poor and deprived (Hermes et al., 20
10、05; Murdoch, 1999). So far, there is no proper framework to assess how we can qualify the efforts of banks in this respect. There are specialized rating agencies that come up with an assessment of corporate social responsibility of rms. However, they have a rather generic approach and it is not clea
11、r at all how they arrive at their assessment. Furthermore, Jeucken (2001) came up with a sustainability ranking of international banks. However, it was not clear how he arrived at his assessment and he completely left out the social dimension of sustainable development. Instead, we aim at arriving a
12、t a general framework to check banks social responsibility. This framework must be able to arrive at a comparison of banks conduct among several regions and countries as well at a ranking of individual bank performance. Therefore, we want to compare the relative performance of the banks with respect
13、 to their corporate social responsibility policies. The framework is to be a clear means to arrive at an assessment of banks CSR conduct. The structure of this article is as follows. First, is a discussion abo ut the background of our topic and we relate the operations of banks to social responsibil
14、ity. Then, we discuss the data and the methods used in the analysis. Next, we will report the results of the analysis. In this respect, we rst come up with an assessment of bank performance in three different regions, namely Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacic. Then, we will come up with a ranking
15、 of individual banks. We will briey go into performance on a per country basis. Next, we will associate the banks performance on corporate social responsibility with some basic nancial characteristics. Lastly, we will compare our results with those of Jeucken (2001) and reect on trends between 2000
16、and 2005. We end the article with a brief conclusion. Banks key actions in nancing economic activities are screening, monitoring, and enforcement. Screening is the information production and processing about prospective lenders and investment objects. The lender is primarily concerned with the trade
17、-off between risk and return. By economizing on the information costs, nancial institutions improve the assessment of the investment opportunities, with positive effects on resource allocation. By improving information about enterprises, management, and market conditions, the nancial institutions ma
18、y accelerate both rm and economic growth. Greenwood and Jovanovic (1990) assert that the intermediaries that produce better information about rms will fund more successful rms and, as such, induce a more efcient allocation of the available capital. King and Levine (1993) nd that intermediaries incre
19、ase the rate of technological change by identifying entrepreneurs who have the best chances of successfully initiating product and process innovations. Monitoring is assessing the loan/investment once it has been granted/made. Financial intermediaries monitor how rms use the funds. In case creditors
20、 and shareowners effectively monitor rms and induce their managers to increase rm value, this will result in a more efcient allocation of resources. However, a lack of nancing arrangements that enhance corporate governance may block the mobilization of savings and may keep capital from going to the
21、most protable investments (Stiglitz and Weiss, 1981). There are various strategies for investors to inuence the rm: 1. Voting on crucial issues, such as business strategies, mergers, etc. 2. Engaging in dialogue: Shareholders may directly discuss corporate policies with management. 3. (Co)Filing sha
22、reowner resolutions: With shareholder proposals, the investor can present an issue in front of other shareholders and management. 4. Investing in or divesting from the company. Enforcement is the way in which the nanciers deal with the borrower when it breaches the contract terms or in case of defau
23、lt. The enforcement of contract terms is relevant both for banks and for nancial market participants. The legal system determines the potential for the nancial intermediaries to enforce their rights and as such structures the way in which they nance enterprises. Banks have access to different assets
24、 under different conditions than shareholders have (see La Porta et al., 1998). Three linkages between nance and sustainable development/CSR are the subject of discussion in the economic literature: the environmental Kuznets curve (Gylfason, 2001), socially responsible investment (Sparkes and Cowton
25、, 2004), and active stakeholders (SIF, 2005). Given the perspective of this article, the conduct of international banks we focus on the last two only. Socially responsible investment takes into account non-nancial characteristics of rm performance and policies. Evaluating corporate governance, envir
26、onmental, social, and economic factors allows investors to manage their funds in a way that is consistent with the investors mission and values. The investor can make a trade-off between the performance and policies of the rm with respect to these factors and its nancial performance (i.e., risk and
27、return). A growing number of empirical studies of the nancial performance of socially responsible investment funds have appeared in the recent past (see Bauer et al, 2005; Bello, 2005; Statman, 2005). They nd that there is not a signicant difference in the returns on the relatively more socially res
28、ponsible funds compared to conventional funds. Financial risk also is in the same order of magnitude. Thus, it appears that screening does not have a very signicant impact on the risk and return characteristics and socially responsible investors do not forego many opportunities. How might socially r
29、esponsible investment affect rm behavior? Johnsen (2003) argues that the size of socially responsible investment funds usually is much too small for the funds portfolio decisions to have an impact on rm behavior. Therefore, Johnsen argues, socially responsible funds should encounter in active owners
30、hip. However, the prospects of this policy are limited too. First, there are institutional and legal constraints, as in many countries mutual funds face ownership restrictions. Second is that the share of co-operating socially responsible investors needs to be quite substantial (see Heinkel et al.,
31、2001). Third, shareholder activism can affect the direction of the business strategy. Shareholder activism is a process by which the shareholders of a listed company, under the provisioning of securities legislation in various jurisdictions, can request its members to meet and vote on specic resolut
32、ions. While shares and shareholder rights indeed are an important instrument to impact upon the direction of the rm, they are not the only means. Private capital and bank credit are important nancial instruments too to provide external nance to the rm. But these types of nancing are much more opaque
33、 than nancing via the market for stocks or bonds (see Boot and Thakor, 1997). Nevertheless, their impact can be at least of equivalent importance. In this perspective, it must be noted that it is common for nancial institutions to assess non-nancial attributes. They often regard qualitative attribut
34、es of the rm and the entrepreneurs as proxies for the viability of the project and the rm (Denis, 2004; Matthews, 2002; Saunders and Allen, 2002). Furthermore, they select rms and projects based on their performance with respect to such non-nancial characteristics. This screening of rms is a very im
35、portant instrument for nancial intermediaries to direct their funds. It literally directs the way in which the funds are used. The nancial intermediary not only provides nance, but also is involved in project design and implementation (Haupt and Henrich, 2004; Jappelli and Pagano, 2002). For example
36、, early stage entrepreneurial nancing, community investing, and project nance suggest that by providing the funding for projects and ideas, it is possible to shape these ideas as well (see Scholtens, 2006). These nancing modes open the potential to direct the economic activities in a way that takes
37、account of social, ethical, and environmental issues. This clearly complements the microeconomic transmission channels that were the object of study so far, i.e, shareholder activism and making responsible investments. Therefore, apart from the shareholder rights and the cost of capital, private equ
38、ity, and credit have a role to play too. When we feedback this to the general activities of nancial intermediaries, the transmission channel that concentrates on listed shares is directed at the monitoring and the enforcement stages of the relationship between rm and nancier. Finance also is crucial
39、 in the screening stages, and especially here it is possible to amend the course of business activity in a more socially responsible direction. With lending and venture nancing, screening of projects is the key. It is via lending and private equity that nanciers can affect CSR more directly than via
40、 the public stock market as these activities are much closer to the rms investments and project design. A general and natural weakness of banks when it comes to impacting corporate social responsibility is that it is of an indirect, intermediate, character. Finance facilitates economic operations. B
41、y providing nance, the nancier contributes to the realization of all kinds of activities and projects. However, in the end, the entrepreneur is accountable for the success or failure of the project. By taking account of social, ethical, and environmental conditions in the provisioning of nance, the
42、nancial intermediaries come up with additional requirements with respect to the ways in which the entrepreneur realizes and manages the business. 译文 国际银行业的企业社会责任 资料来源：商业伦理学杂志第 13 期 作者：伯特 .史高顿 银行在我们的社会上扮演着 金融中介的角色：它们评估金融资产，管理信贷，监控金融风险并且办理支付业务 (格林霍姆和塔科尔， 2007)。银行通过发挥这些功能对社会产生巨大的影响。他们通常要求公司和个体采取一些行为来增加
43、放款人支付利息和分期付款的机会。这已经导致了大量评估银行如何影响经济的文化的出现。银行系统在经济发展中扮演十分重要的角色是一个主要的发现（莱文， 2004）。同时，他们也会影响可持续性发展。世界环境与发展委员会（ WCED， 1987）在他们“我们共同的未来”报告中将可持续性发展定义为“满足目前需要却不损害后代利益的发展”。在一些 地区，银行已经开始影响可持续性发展。 银行社会责任在金融业已经成为一个确定的概念。金融机构开始认为应该加大投资而不是仅仅检查数据。在美国，每个人超过 8 美元的投资都取决于社会或者道德的屏幕（社会投资论坛， 2006）。在大多数的国家，私人都有保留或者投资他们现金的
44、机会，可以选择没有货币价值的储蓄和投资，而不是仅仅以金融回报为基础。在许多经济合作及发展组织国家，一些专业的隐含会向公众提供储蓄账户然后保证他们的储蓄会被用于环境方面可靠的项目或者一些难以从传统的机构筹措资金的企业。在美国所谓的社区投资中，女士和少数民 族在这方面被视为特定的目标（社会投资论坛， 2006）。在超过 40 个国家，包括一些发展中国家像巴西和南非，人们可以用一些方式或者以关于公司社会责任的支票将他们的储蓄存放到社会负责的投资基金中来投资（国际金融公司，2003）。银行的增长包括了一些以可持续性发展和向贫困者和缺乏食物的人提供小额贷款为目标的融资经济活动（爱马仕， 2005；默多克
45、， 1999）。 到目前为止，我们没有合适的框架来评估我们该如何规范银行在这方面应该做出的努力。有一些专门的排行机构会公布公司企业社会责任的评估，然而，他们只是运用了一 些普通的途径，而且他们得出的评估结果并不是很清晰。此外，杰克（ 2001）提出了一个国际银行的持续性排行，然而，他是如何得出这个结果并不是很清楚，而且他完全忽略了对社会可持续性发展的衡量。我们旨在找到一个综合的框架来衡量银行社会责任。这个框架必须能够反映出银行在不同的确和国家的表现以及其银行绩效排行。因此，我们要比较关于银行企业社会责任政策的相对性能。这个框架是一个清晰的途径来衡量银行社会责任方面的表现。 这篇文章的结构如下：
46、首先，我们要讨论这个话题的背景以及银行社会责任承担。接着，我们要讨论分析中用 到的数据和理论。然后，我们要报告分析的结果。在这方面，我们首先在得到了不同地区，即欧洲，北美和亚太地区的银行舍业责任评估结果。此外，我们会得出一个银行排名，简单地介绍其在各自国家的表现。然后，我们将把银行在社会责任方面的表现与基本的金融特征相联系。最后，我们会将我们的结果与杰克（ 2001）得出的结果做比较，得出2000 到 2005 年之间的趋势。我们最后将以一个简要的结论作文文章结束。 银行在金融经济活动中的主要承担审查，监督和执行的作用。审查是预期放款人和投资产品的信息产生的一个步骤。放款人主要关心的 是交易中
47、的风险和回报。通过节约在信息上的花费，金融机构提高了投资机会评估的能力，进行了更有效的资源分配。通过提高企业管理信息和市场调节，金融机构可以同时加快公司和经济的增长，格林伍德和月瓦诺维奇（ 1990）声称，能够提供更好的公司信息的中介机构将会为更多成功企业提供资金，使多余的可用资产得到更有效的分配。 金和莱文（ 1993）发现，中介机构通过鉴别一些推出有最大机会获得成功的产品和产品创新的企业，增加了科学技术的改变。监督就是评估贷款是否已经被许可。金融中介监督公司如何使用这些资金。万一债权人和股东有效地监控公司，引起他们的管理者增加公司价值，这将会导致一个更有效的资源分配。然而，公司治理中融资准
48、备的缺乏有可能会阻碍储蓄和资金流动到最适合的投资中区（斯蒂格利茨和韦斯， 1981）。投资者各种各样的策略影响公司。 1、对重要事件进行投票，如经营策略，公司兼并，等。 2、参与对话：股东可以和管理人员直接讨论公司政策。 3、公司股东决议：根据股东的建议，投资者可以在所有股东和管理人员前陈述事情。 4、投资或者将资金从公司撤离。 当借款人破坏了合约条款或者不履行义务，融资人将用强制的方法解决。合约的 强制执行不仅与银行相关也与市场参与者相关。合法的系统决定了金融中介施行权利的可能性和企业运行的结构。与股东相比，银行拥有更多不同条件下的资产（拉波特， 1998）财政和可持续性发展的联系是经济文化
49、中讨论的主要话题：环境友好型，对社会负责的投资和活跃的股东。透视这篇文章所写的国际银行行为，我们主要着重讨论后面两点。 对社会负责的投资会将公司表现和政策的非财政特征考虑进去。衡量公司治理，以及环境，社会和经济的指标使投资者可以更好地处理他们的资金，与他们本来的目标和价值保持一致。投资者在考虑这些因素和公司财政变 现（风险和回报）的同时可以在公司表现和政策之间做一个交易。关于社会责任投资资金的财政表现方面的市政研究近几年逐渐增多 (如鲍尔， 2005；贝罗， 2005；特曼， 2005)。他们发现传统资金与对社会负责的资金回报并不存在显著的差别。财务风险依然存在一定影响力。因此，审查对风险和回报特征并没有发挥很显著的影响，负有社会责任的投资者并没有放弃很多机会。 社会责任的投入如何影响公司表现？约翰森（ 2003）认为为了影响公司表现，社会责任投资基金的规模在进行基金证券组合决策的时候过小。因此，约翰森认为，社会责任基金应 该拥有主动的所有权。然而，有制度上和法律在上的限制，如在很多国家，共同基金所有
