Research Article Open Access

Bankers Perspectives on Green Banking Practices in Commercial Banks: An Empirical Evidence from Nepal

Abstract

Going green, in recent days, has been a buzzword for both global banking and financial sectors as well as for the general public. Green banking as a part of "going green" is a new way of performing the banking businesses considering the clean environmental issues and corporate social responsibility of banks. This paper endeavors to explore banker’s general understanding and factors affecting their perspective on green banking practices. The data was collected between June–October 2019 from banks in Kathmandu valley, Nepal. The sample of 326 banking employees has been collected by using a purposive sampling technique. This research employs an explanatory research design which estimates the causal relationship among dependent and independent variables. The paper uses descriptive and inferential methods of estimation. For understanding the bankers’ awareness level towards green banking awareness, an index has been calculated. Furthermore, primary and secondary data were collected to explore how bankers perceive green banking. The results show that many of the bankers are less aware of green banking practices in their banks, while only 5% of respondents are aware of green banking practices. The Probit regression results reveal that education, training for green banking, stationary cost, customer attraction, related parties’ instructions, and protection of the environment have significant and positive effects on green banking practices in banks. In conclusion, for adoption the green banking practices, first and foremost, banks should provide training to their employees and provide effective online services to their customers.

Heena Tandukar, Niranjan Devkota, Ghanashyam Khanal^*, Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda, Udaya Raj Paudel, Udbodh Bhandari Kabita Adhikari, and Seeprata Parajuli