Does ESG performance reduce banks’ nonperforming loans?

Abstract

This study investigates the association between a bank's nonperforming loans and its ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performance. Using data from U.S. commercial banks, we find that a bank's ESG rating is negatively associated with its nonperforming loans. Furthermore, we document that a bank's high performance in all three pillars of ESG evaluation reduces its ratio of nonperforming loans. Our study finds that a bank's favorable ESG performance improves its loan quality and provides archival evidence of the importance of all three pillars of ESG.