Title: Business utilitarian ethics and green lending policies: a thematic analysis on the Swedish global retail and commercial banking sector

Authors: Bruno F. Abrantes; Emelie Ström

Addresses: Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College (NBCBC), Bispetorvet, 1-3, 1455 Copenhagen, Denmark ' Faculty of Business and Law, De Monfort University (DMU), UK

Abstract: The pioneering work on environmental regulation in Sweden and that country's leading position in sustainability rankings has paradoxically passed almost unnoticed by academics. To this fact should be added, the scant attention given to the Nordic banking system. Becoming immersed into the realm of Swedish commercial banking ethics, we have focused on one of the top three commercial banks in the country, to map its corporate sustainability policies (CSP) and the compliance of the lending business process (LBP) to these policies. A descriptive-explanatory research framework utilises a critical case with a phronetic design. Data collected through interviews was manipulated under the thematic analysis method. We found a unique understanding of act-utilitarianism, in which, policies and practices are set to prevent financial risks and environment rebounds, as they are symbiotic. This allowed us to enlarge the body of knowledge on Nordic banking's sustainable governance and design the green lending model (GLM).

Keywords: business ethics; corporate governance; corporate social responsibility; CSR; green lending model; GLM; sustainable banking; utilitarianism; global retail and commercial banking; GRCB; corporate sustainability policies; CSP; lending business process; LBP.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2023.132087

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2023 Vol.17 No.4, pp.443 - 470

Received: 05 Mar 2021
Accepted: 24 Nov 2021
Published online: 11 Jul 2023 *

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