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Following Agenda 2030, the integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into banking strategies has become essential for promoting global sustainability and responsible financial practices. This study aims to examine how the financial characteristics of banks influence their efforts towards achieving the SDGs.

A fixed-effect panel regression is used to analyse a sample of 646 publicly listed banks across 61 countries, observed from 2018 to 2023. The data are sourced from the Refinitiv Eikon database, with the dependent variable pertaining to the SDGs calculated as a composite score.

Empirical results show that larger and less profitable banks reach better performance in terms of contribution to the SDGs. Instead, the level of leverage does not appear to be a significant influential factor in fostering the support of the SDGs.

Theoretically, this work enriches the academic literature on SDG performance and confirms the relevance of stakeholder theory. Managerially, this study provides valuable insights for banks integrating the SDGs into their business models and for policymakers identifying strategies to encourage sustainable practices.

This study examines the Robo-Advisors (RA) based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), a new service that digitises and automates investment decisions in the financial and banking industries to provide low-cost and personalised financial advice. The RAs use objective algorithms to select portfolios, reduce behavioural biases, and improve transactions. They are inexpensive, accessible, and transparent platforms. Objective algorithms improve the believability of portfolio selection.

This study adopts a qualitative approach consisting of an exploratory examination of seven different RA case studies and analyses the RA platforms used in the banking industry.

The findings provide two different approaches to running a business that are appropriate for either fully automated or hybrid RAs through the realisation of two platform model frameworks. The research reveals that relying solely on algorithms and not including any services involving human interaction in a company model is inadequate to meet the requirements of customers in decision-making.

This study emphasises key robo-advisory features, such as investor profiling, asset allocation, investment strategies, portfolio rebalancing, and performance evaluation. These features provide managers and practitioners with new information on enhancing client satisfaction, improving services, and adjusting to dynamic market demands.

This study fills the research gap related to the analysis of RA platform models by providing a meticulous analysis of two different types of RAs, namely, fully automated and hybrid, which have not received adequate attention in the literature.

This study intends to test the relationship between banks’ board diversity, detected with age and gender characteristics, and banks’ social performance. The resource dependence theory posits that board diversity is a strategic tool able to enrich the board of directors by expanding skills and the number of links with stakeholders, which have a strategic role in achieving a competitive advantage and sustainable goals, especially in the banking sector.

The research hypotheses are tested using a sample of 46 European banks observed from 2009 to 2017. The gender and age diversity data of bank board members are hand-collected from banks’ social reports.

The empirical results show that bank social performance is positively influenced by board gender and age diversity. Thus, the human capital determined by a higher bank’s board diversity constitutes an essential resource for adopting more sustainable business models.

This paper analyses the association between board diversity and social performance, providing empirical evidence for the European banking sector in the period after the 2008 global financial crisis. The banking literature provides scarce evidence on the topic; however, the empirical results claim the strategic importance of the appointment of directors to the banks’ boards to balance corporate strategy with social and environmental issues generating a positive impact on sustainable growth.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of trade credit in a sample of small and medium enterprises in Europe, before and after the outbreak of the subprime financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis (2006-2013). This study aims to verify whether trade credit is an alternative source of funding compared to other sources of financing. In addition, it tests whether firms that grant extended payment terms to their customers demand delayed accounts payable terms from their suppliers.

The empirical analysis is conducted on a sample of European SMEs that were observed over the period immediately before and after the outbreak of the subprime crisis (2008) and the sovereign debt crisis (2010-2011). A panel data analysis is conducted using the generalized method of moment.

The results suggest that SMEs with a high probability of insolvency use trade credit more extensively. Distressed and weaker SMEs are less able to match accounts receivable to accounts payable. Finally, the evidence suggests that during the financial crises, the substitution hypothesis is weakened and liquidity shocks are propagated through trade credit channels.

This study contributes to the extant literature as very few studies have analyzed intercompany financing for European SMEs during periods of financial crisis. The results suggest that supporting trade credit channels, through timely injections of liquidity to companies, could reduce the impact of both financial and intercompany credit crunch on SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to verify whether the benefits gained by granting extended payment terms can lead to higher profitability for Italian companies. Moreover, the analysis aims to investigate whether trade credit offered at a higher level than the sector average can contribute to the profitability of companies. Finally, it aims to test whether the profitability connected to granting trade credit is higher for the unconstrained and financially sound companies.

The empirical analyses are conducted on a sample of Italian firms, over the period 2008–2016. The methodologies used to test research hypotheses are panel analysis with fixed effects and random effects models, as well as the generalized method of moment (GMM).

The results show the contribution of trade credit to the profitability of Italian companies. The empirical analysis also suggests that companies might improve their profitability by increasing investments in trade receivables to a greater extent than companies in their business sector. Finally, the greater use of payables to suppliers and the higher incidence of bank debt reduce the contribution of accounts receivable to the profitability of companies.

This study contributes to the existing literature as very few studies have analyzed whether trade credit offered at a higher level than the sector average may contribute to the profitability of companies. Moreover, the study provides new evidence on the moderation effect of payables to banks and suppliers on the contribution of granting trade credit to company performance.

Graphs are widely used in the banking and finance domain to support consumers’ decision-making process, but subjects differ in their ability to understand them. This study aims to detect the determinants of the ability to read and process financial information conveyed in the graphical format, i.e. financial graph literacy (FGL) and the relationship between FGL and subjects’ actual financial behavior (FB).

Data are collected by administering a structured questionnaire to the Italian adult population (n = 502). The survey includes different sections aimed at collecting information about sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables, financial literacy and FB. The econometric analyses are developed using OLS and Poisson regressions.

The results show that gender, geographical area, education, marital status and income are crucial determinants of FGL. Moreover, the analysis reveals that an increase in the FGL indicator is associated with a higher propensity for individuals to purchase banking or financial products or actively manage financial resources; results are robust, even controlling for financial knowledge.

Although previous research investigates the impact of graphs in financial decision-making, no studies measure the ability of consumers to read and interpret financial information conveyed in the graphical format. This study is the first to investigate the determinants of FGL and link it to actual FB. Implications for policymakers, regulatory and supervisory authorities and financial intermediaries are discussed.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are increasingly prominent in the current agendas of firms, regulatory agencies and consumers worldwide. It is vital for banks to understand how consumers perceive CSR activities, as such activities strengthen their brand equity building. This study examines the relationship between financial consumers’ perceptions of banks’ CSR initiatives and brand equity, identifying a mediating influence of consumer trust and satisfaction.

The survey was conducted by distributing questionnaires to Italian banking consumers (941 valid responses). The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis.

Our analysis reveals that consumers’ perceptions of banks’ CSR initiatives directly affect brand equity. Moreover, trust and satisfaction positively mediate the relationship between consumers’ perceptions of CSR initiatives and brand equity in the Italian banking industry.

These findings advance understanding by making a novel contribution to the literature; they also have managerial implications. In terms of literature advancement, we provide new evidence related to a context with specific features, namely Italy. From a managerial perspective, this study highlights the importance of informing Italian customers about and promoting awareness of sustainable activities. In turn, client perceptions affect the banks’ value.

This study aims to systematically review the literature on digital consumers’ decision-making in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector and proposes an integrative framework.

By combining databases such as Web of Science and Elton B. Stephens Company (EBSCO), we identified, analyzed and synthesized 53 peer-reviewed empirical articles that explore the connection between digital solutions in the BFSI sector and various phases and constructs of the consumer decision-making process. We examined the dependent variables (DVs) used to operationalize consumer decision-making, performed a thematic analysis of the papers and proposed an integrative framework.

The reviewed articles have garnered more attention from marketing researchers than from BFSI or artificial intelligence scholars, often employing traditional behavioral and experimental methodologies that have several limitations. We identified 38 DVs used to operationalize consumer decision-making, with the most frequently recurring constructs being “Intention to use,” “Utilization,” “Satisfaction,” “Perceived usefulness” and “Trust.” We propose an integrative framework that groups these DVs into three main clusters: subjects’ perceptions, user experience and adoption/usage choice. This systematic literature review highlights the increasing importance of emotion in recent decades and underscores the difficulty of establishing a framework where relationships between variables are direct and unidirectional, as traditional economic theories assume.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the DVs and the research methods used to study the impact of recent digital solutions on consumer decision-making in the BFSI sector. Further, a framework is proposed that can offer a new perspective for consumer research.