Nonbanking financial institutions and sustainability issues: empirical evidence on the impact of environmental, social and governance scores on market performance

Claudia Cannas, Laura Pellegrini and Andrea Roncella

Abstract

This study highlights how environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores relate to the market performance of nonbanking financial institutions (NBFIs), using a sample for the period 2006–20 composed of 415 international listed financial institutions. To show whether firms oriented toward long-term sustainability achieve not only reputational but also financial benefits, we run a panel regression based on the Tobin model.We find that the market-to-book ratio is positively affected by increases in ESG scores, with stronger evidence for environmental and governance drivers. Finally, we analyze the role of the ESG controversies score on the financial performance of NBFIs, finding a negative and significant relation. This study represents a novel contribution to this field of research in two respects: first, the specific financial sectors investigated are diversified financials, insurance and real estate investment trusts, rather than traditional financial intermediaries (banks are excluded); second, the time horizon analyzed contains many important economic and financial events and much interesting evidence.