Disclosures relating to Covid-19 in the Malaysian banking industry: Theory and Practice

Purpose: Covid-19 has impacted all the spheres of human lives and so on the stakeholders’ demands. This paper is aimed to discuss various strategies the banking industry may be asked to perform for coping against the Covid-19. This paper also analyzed the volume of real in-time disclosures created by the banking industry. These disclosures were also differentiated between public and private banks and between lowly and highly disclosing banks as well. Design/methodology/approach: Different strategies were used theoretically under the triple bottom line of sustainability. For empirical analysis, the data was taken from Malaysian listed and non-listed banks. Group differences and correlation analyses were performed. Findings: Banks with bigger size, more profitability, and previous engagements in CSR were more active in disclosing their strategies for Covid-19. Banks were doing least for their disclosures on environmental strategies on Covid-19. Overall, the disclosures about Covid-19 can be taken as a nexus of CSR disclosures of the banks since they have similar correlating variables and have significant correlations. Moreover, the findings were robust against alternative measures of CSR. Originality: This research is the first in time to discuss disclosures about Covid-19 generated by the banking industry. Research limitations/implications: The study was limited from the banking industry of Malaysia and had not been able to run regression analysis due to a limited number of observations. Practical implications: Various aspects of strategies under economic, social and environmental concerns had been discussed. Pertinent examples from different countries around the globe had also been given. These strategies can help practitioners in formulating their Covid-19 strategies to satisfy the stakeholders’ demands.