The Awareness Of Digitisation In Strategic Sustainabilty Reporting In Banking

Purpose: Today's financial services industry is making a digital transition, especially when it comes to banking. Due to changing market conditions and stricter legal requirements for information duties to stakeholders, this paper focuses on the analysis of mandatory sustainable reporting with a specific focus on strategy. In particular, the perception of a changing market environment through digitisation in the banking sector will be analysed and interpreted. The framework of the Sustainability Code forms the basis of the analysis.Design/methodology/approach: Firstly, quantitative content analysis of n = 114 sustainability reports and, secondly, regression analysis of a total of 1410 codes related to digitisation were chosen as appropriate research methods. Keyword analysis deals with the analysis of sustainability reports of the German Sustainability Code and its four strategic criteria. These are searched and coded for the keyword 'digital'. Based on this, a regression analysis will be carried out following the respective coded sustainability reports.Findings: The findings revealed that, within the legally mandated sustainable reporting requirements, banks are partially, and not fully, concerned with reporting on digitisation. It turns out that the focus is on three out of four strategy criteria of the Sustainability Code. Strategical analysis methods are neglected, whereas Materiality, Objectives the Depth of the Value Chain issues receive increased attention.Research/practical implications: With regards to digitisation, the paper identifies a thematic imbalance within strategic sustainable reporting. It turns out that topics are not fully considered and addressed in a reporting approach prescribed by law, and that there is a high degree of freedom in the information duty to stakeholders.Originality/value: Since sustainable reporting has only recently become mandatory and it is a comparably new reporting approach, this paper focuses on precisely these and makes a contribution to the analysis and further development of the German Sustainability Code and the associated legal approaches.