Partners or Pretenders: Exploring the Framing of Sustainable Finance in Bank Communications to Retail Investors

Abstract

Offering retail investors the opportunity to implement personal values in their investment decisions, the demand for sustainable finance products is increasing. However, despite the growing popularity, there is still no consensus on the definition of sustainable finance. Instead, it is used as an umbrella term for investment activities guided by sustainability-oriented strategies. Thus, when banks in their intermediary role promote sustainable finance products, they must fill these gaps. This study aims to develop an understanding of how banks present sustainability and sustainable investing when offering sustainable finance products, what they understand by it, and how they demonstrate their benefits. Using a mixed-methods approach consisting of quantitative and qualitative content analysis and qualitative frame analysis, this research analyzes bank webpages from the DACH region. It shows that banks predominantly refer to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to define sustainability. They explain and justify the offerings of sustainable investment products with societal expectations and thus describe it as the interplay of the realization of individual values while achieving financial benefits. The results challenge the perception of ESG criteria as described in signaling theory, as the presented lack of depth in argumentation blurs the line between costly signals and “cheap talk.”