SUSTAINABLE FINANCE FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF BANKING INDUSTRY IN BANGLADESH: AN EQUITY PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The present study is about sustainable finance- a prerequisite for growth and development of banking industry in Bangladesh. The study is based on a total number of 20 commercial banks and total 120 respondents consisting the bank owners. This study is an outcome of both the primary and secondary data. The requisite primary data were collected using structured questionnaire. The main objective of this study is to critically evaluate the role of sustainable finance in the growth and development in the banking industry in Bangladesh. This study reveals that the levels of perceptions of the most of the respondents were found to be very high in terms of their awareness, beliefs, attitudes and understanding as regards the dimensions of sustainable finance viz. customers’ satisfaction, employees’ welfare, contribution to govt. exchequer, generating revenues, cost savings, products or services with rescannable charge, brand awareness and addition to capital and the shareholders’ equity representing value of the firm was found to be influenced to the extent of 41.6 percent by the relevant independent variables representing sustainable finance of the sample banks. The major suggestions for addressing challenges put forward by the respondents have been loan sanctioning founding on proper appraisal of loan applications and improving operational efficiency. The relevant bank authorities should implement the suggestions in order to improve the sustainable finance related factors.