Banks’ CSR expenditure up 50% in 2022

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure of banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) increased by 50.38 per cent in 2022 compared to the previous year.

The total amount of CSR expenditure was Tk 1,151.53 crore in 2022, up from Tk 765.71 crore in 2021, according to a Bangladesh Bank report on half-yearly reports of CSR activities of conventional banks and NBFIs.

According to the report published on Sunday, the CSR expenditure of banks increased by 50.57 per cent to Tk 1,143.15 crore in 2022 from Tk 759.21 crore in 2021.

Meanwhile, the CSR expenditure of NBFIs was Tk 8.38 crore in 2022, which was Tk 6.5 crore in 2021.

Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director and CEO of Mutual Trust Bank Ltd, told The Business Post that after the Covid-19 pandemic eased, banks performed better and profit also increased in 2022 compared to 2021. So proportionally, CSR expenditure has gone up as well.

Responding to a question, he said there is a separate guideline for the CSR activities of banks and NBFIs. “All CSR-related expenditures take place in line with it. We have no chance to go beyond the guideline.”

According to the guideline, banks and NBFIs can carry out CSR expenditures from their net profit. Among such expenditures, 30 per cent should be in education, 20 per cent in health, 10 per cent in climate change risks, and the rest of the amount in other sectors.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd spent the most on CSR last year. The company’s expenditure was Tk 327 crore, which was 28.6 per cent of the total CSR expenditure in 2022.

Meanwhile, Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd was in the second position with a total CSR expenditure of Tk 69 crore.

According to the central bank report, more than half of the CSR expenditure by banks and financial institutions was spent on disaster management in 2022.

It was followed by education with less than 15 per cent of the total, and then health, climate change and others.