Measuring ESG disclosure by Bulgarian banks: evidence from a disclosure-based indicator framework

This study aims to investigate the scope and dissimilarities in the ESG disclosure across the environmental, social and governance pillars by Bulgarian banks. We examine 27 ESG disclosure indicators and seek the interrelationship between the reporting of the three ESG pillars.Unlike most studies in this field, we examine all commercial banks licenced in the Republic of Bulgaria. The results show divergence in reporting between the banks but at the same time a high degree of clustering in reporting on the ESG scale. Associations with bank asset size and ECB supervisory status are also explored. A correlation is found in the reporting on the three components – banks with stronger disclosure in one pillar also tend to report more extensively in the other pillars. The combination of methods allows for a detailed analysis of ESG reporting and for identification of potential inconsistencies and critical areas.