Banking for Sustainable Development: A "Glocal Co-opetitive" Challenge

This paper aims at discussing challenging issues that pervade the banking industry worldwide, with the “glocal” approach calling for attention as a must; what sounds especially appealing is the pursuit of an appropriate mix of competition and cooperation – or “co-opetition” – in sight of contributing to sustainable development. To this end, inclusive finance stands as a key ingredient and serious worries are fueled by the millions of people who belong to underbanked – and even unbanked – market segments. Based on these considerations, it seems that progress can be favored by designing a framework for analysis and disseminating best practices, while bridging the gap between theory and practice. The main findings act as a stimulus to suggest concrete proposals that also account for academic challenges; conclusions imply that banking on shared value can be expected to generate benefits in terms of sustainability, to society in a global-scale context and particularly to underserved consumers.