Corporate Social Responsibility i praktiken - Hur inkorporeras CSR i kreditbedömningen, och vilken betydelse har det för bolagens kapitalkostnad för lån?

Sammanfattning: Research on the importance of CSR has lately received increasing attention in the academic world. Prior focus has been on its implied impact based on the shareholders' perspective, and most studies have been conducted in order to describe the relationship between CSR and the cost of capital for companies. In contrast to this, only a few studies have described the relationship from creditors' perspective. This study aims to qualitatively explore and describe how credit risk assessors practically take CSR into consideration in their evaluation process and the potential impact it will have on companies' debt cost of capital. The qualitative methodology used in our study is based on semi-structured interviews. The main findings in this study show that CSR is a component of the overall assessment in the determination of a company's creditworthiness. However, insufficient knowledge, undefined frameworks and the absence of appropriate analytical tools make it hard to measure its potential reduction on overall company risk. The respondents in this study leave room for future improvements that will generate clearer frameworks of how to properly manage CSR in the credit risk assessment, as awareness of its potential benefits gradually grows in the internal and external banking environment.