Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility in banking: The role of the board of directors

This article presents a review of the studies on on boards of directors and corporate social responsibility practices in the banking industry. Several characteristics of bank boards, in particular independence and diversity, may impact their CSR commitments. By studying a sample of 159 banks in nine countries during the period 2004-2010, there is evidence that suggests that banks with more independent and diverse directors follow a path of socially responsible behaviour. (C) 2015 AEDEM. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).