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The purpose of this study is to examine whether banks’ commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) is related to the diversification of their activities and whether CSR, as a result, affects banks’ risk profile.

Using a sample of 215 publicly traded U.S. bank holding companies between 1996 and 2016, this study applies regression analysis to examine the links between CSR and activity diversification and risk-taking. It also conducts a mediation test to determine whether CSR affects risk through its influence on banks’ activity diversification.

The results of this study show that banks engaging in positive CSR activities significantly increase the diversification of their banking activities, consistent with the theory that CSR serves as an implicit risk hedging strategy. Mediation analysis provides evidence that this translates into more stable and less risky banks.

This study contributes to the literature by suggesting that activity diversification is a channel through which CSR reduces bank risk and improves asset quality.

The purpose of this study is to conduct an empirical investigation on how country-specific characteristics such as the quality of the institutional environment and the restrictiveness of capital control policy affect domestic financial sector’s ability to provide liquidity to the economy.

This study uses panel regressions on international banking data across 102 countries from Bankscope.

The results show that strong institutions and looser capital control in a country enhance the banks’ role as the liquidity provider to the economy. The study also finds that institutional quality and capital control have a dynamic effect that influences the creation of liquidity. Better institutions benefit the creation of liquidity in either under normal economic conditions or during economic downturn. Loosened capital control, as a result of financial openness, facilitates liquidity creation under normal economic conditions.

This study complements the research on the role of country-level institutions in financial and economic development and suggests a liquidity channel through which a country’s institutions can further economic growth. The study also provides evidence on the impact of a country’s control of capital flows on the role of banking sector in domestic economy.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of religiosity on banks’ lending behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA.

This study uses the evidence from the issuance of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to relate local religiosity to banks’ participation in the PPP loan program and to banks’ loan portfolio performance during the pandemic.

The results of this study show that banks located in more religious counties have a higher level of lending through the PPP, supporting the ethical and moral concerns cultivated by local religious beliefs. In addition, banks’ lending before the pandemic is more prudential in more religious areas, as reflected in lower losses and higher returns at the onset of the crisis, especially in areas where business activities were most disrupted, supporting the stewardship role encouraged by religiosity.

Thanks to the structure of the PPP loans programs, the authors are able to disentangle the conflicting effects of morality and prudence on banks’ behavior.

Much attention has recently been directed toward the relationship between the performance of firms and compensation received by their respective CEOs. We assess this relationship for commercial banks, as regulatory and other industry‐specific conditions can cause the performance‐compensation linkage in the banking industry to differ from that of industrial firms. We find that the accumulated human capital of CEOs and the bank size are positively related to the total compensation (including salary, bonus, and stock options) levels of bank CEOs. We also find a positive significant relationship between bank accounting performance proxies and CEO compensation level for all time horizons. Finally, we find a positive significant relationship between market‐based performance proxy and bank compensation.

The purpose of this paper is both to determine Citibank's response to cultural diversity in the dynamic, highly competitive global market for online banking facilities and services, and whether or not international online bank web sites are constructed in a manner sensitive to the culture of their host country.

This paper takes the perspective of managing innovation for shareholder wealth maximization where consumer behavior is mediated through the technology acceptance model (TAM) belief constructs. The incorporation of variables reflecting Hofstede's four‐factor framework in 45 country‐specific web sites operated directly by Citibank are compared with those variables in 189 web sites of indigenous banks.

The results suggest that culture has an important influence on international online banking web sites and that Citibank has adapted the form and content of its web sites to local cultural influences in a manner comparable to that of the indigenous banks. Further, the role of each of Hofstede's four cultural dimensions is seen to influence the form and content of online bank web sites. This finding confirms earlier research about the role of culture in the TAM.

The results of this study are constrained by the extent to which the Hofstede framework actually captures the relevant dimensions of culture and the extent to which the measures of web site cultural attributes used in this study are valid. Further, the results are also limited by the fact that 23 of the Citibank web sites were located in countries for which Hofstede data were not available and by the small size of this study.

Success in the burgeoning and highly competitive online banking environment requires bank management to adapt their web sites to local cultural conditions. Small differences in language, the portrayal of individuals, and the background used in the site can significantly impact the acceptance of this distribution channel by the target population. This study confirms the importance of the cultural values of individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance with respect to consumer acceptance of online banking.

These findings provide guidance for bank managers as they expand their online banking operations into the international arena. They also support research confirming the importance of culture in determining international consumer behavior within the TAM.