ESG: Identifying opportunities for a bank in the "S" aspect

This bachelor thesis aims at clarifying and explaining in detail the social pillar within the ESG framework, the related EU taxonomy, the principles and the individually assessed criteria, in order to analyse the possible relationships between social responsibility and the bank's activities. The first part describes social responsibility in the banking sector, including the EU taxonomy and its extension of ESG reporting obligations. The second part of the paper explains the relevance of the social pillar and the quantitative and qualitative benefits representing possible revenue and cost potential. It then examines a comparative analysis of selected banks in the Czech Republic and explains the possible reasons for the differences. The final part of the thesis tests hypotheses regarding responsible behaviour of banks and individual criteria. The analysis shows that neither liquidity nor profitability depend on the social aspect, which may be due to the influence of other determinants. On the contrary, the geographical location of the bank has a significant relationship towards social responsibility. Profitability and bank size have a weak, but significant, effect on the "S" score, suggesting the possible more socially responsible behaviour of larger and more profitable banks.