Central Banks’ Commitment to Stakeholders: CSR in the Eurosystem: 2006–2016

Abstract

Central banks’ commitment to public interest goes beyond monetary policy. A wide range of areas are under the control of central banks (price and financial stability, services for the economy, e.g., economic analysis, payments, financial education, customer protection); central banks also have specific responsibilities regarding external and internal stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and stakeholder management (SM) should be under the care of management in central banks. The academic literature about central banking ignores these topics; some theoretical thoughts about this absence are presented. The chapter, following an initial explorative approach, tries to assess the attention paid to CSR in communication practices of central banks in the Eurosystem (ECB and NCBs) by applying text analysis tools to annual reports for the period 2006–2016. Our findings could make the degree of development of CSR communication practices visible and could generate some useful initial insights for designing CSR communication tools in central banks.