Corporate Social Responsibility: The Spanish Case as a Model

Authored by: Alaa Maher

Due to the rise of Economic Globalization, multinational companies have been established with an escalating political and economic impact as time goes by.

Moreover, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been greatly cared for and inevitably applied. It has also correlated with the concept of sustainable development. Hence, talking of CSR always gets to question the role that could be played by companies to contribute to development.

This study aims to draw attention to the situation of CSR in the banks sector by investigating its application patterns through analyzing the annual sustainability disclosure reports in addition to websites’ data for one of the pioneering banks worldwide, Spain’s largest bank ‘Santander’. The study demonstrates the bank’s most significant initiatives and events related to CSR in general. It further focuses on three roles related to the nature of banks’ job as financial institutions that play at the same time crucial roles for advancing development; financial inclusion, supporting small and mid-size enterprises, and considering lending decisions according to social and environmental risks. The study finally attempts to deduce the best ways for banks to contribute to sustainable development, and benefit from others’ experience in addition to making suggestions on how to advance CSR in various developing countries.