Financial Exclusion and Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: A missing link in sustainable finance discourse?

Sustainable finance is gradually gaining a centre stage in contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR) discourse,especially through the growing legitimacy of social responsible investments (SRI). While most of the emerging trends in CSR-led sustainable finance could be arguably linked to dominant western (i.e. developed economies) CSR interests and ideologies, the socio-economic challenges posed by exclusion from access to financial services due to socio-economic conditions in developing economies, appear to be underrepresented in the extant CSR literature. In line with this observation and drawing from the Nigerian context, this paper examines the seeming ‘contradictory’implications of financial exclusion for financial institutions operating in developing economies: first as a socio-economic malaise with potential adverse effects on firms’ profitability by, for instance, shrinking and limiting their market reach; and secondly as a source of strategic opportunities to enhance their brands as good corporate citizens and mitigate probable risk of ‘harsh’regulatory policies to combat financial exclusion. It further argues that by reducing financial exclusion, financial institutions in developing economies can contribute more meaningfully to the fight against poverty and social exclusion, and fill in a gap in sustainable finance discourse.