Research background: The analysis allows to assess the impact of the industry structure of the credit portfolio on the resistance of commercial banks to the crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses two independent methods to measure the impact of the pandemic on industry risk and the methodology allowing to prioritize industries in terms of potential negative effects of the crisis. Purpose of the article: The aim of the research is to assess the resilience of commercial banks operating in the Polish banking sector to the potential effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The diagnostic features of 13 commercial banks were selected for its implementation. Methods: Two linear ordering methods were used, namely the Hellwig method and the TOPSIS method. The following were used as the criteria for parametric assessment of the resilience of commercial banks: capital adequacy, liquidity level, profitability of business activity, share in the portfolio of exposures with recognized impairment and the resilience of the bank's credit portfolio to the risk resulting from the exposure in economic sectors. These sectors were classified according to the level of risk associated with the effects of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings & Value added: The study allows to conclude that the largest banks conducting their operations in Poland are the most resistant ones to the consequences of the pandemic. At the same time, the banks most vulnerable due to the crisis were identified. The conclusions can be used, inter alia, in the process of managing the financial system stability risk and contribute to the discussion on the impact of the pandemic on the condition of commercial banks in emerging markets.

This article analyses the Polish banking sector’s involvement with sustainable development through a multidimensional evaluation applying the technique for order preference by similarity ideal solution (TOPSIS) method with different weight vectors. Our results highlight numerous shortcomings in the sustainability performance of commercial banking activities. In fact, there was backsliding during the analysed period (2015–2017), which suggests that supporting sustainability performance was not one of the priorities of the Polish banking sector. However, we found a dichotomy between national and foreign banks. The government-owned banks and national banks showed greater commitment to this issue than did the banks with foreign capital. This finding suggests that banks with foreign capital were not fully interested in sponsoring activities aimed at sustainable development.

The study was conducted on a sample of 60 of the world’s biggest banks financing the largest fossil fuel entities. The aim is to identify the determinants of ESG ratings of these banks and to determine how relevant their actual credit and investment exposure is to this assessment. The indirect objective is also an examination of whether coal power financing affects ESG ratings. Two logistic regression models have been explored: one dedicated to the identification of high ESG risk banks and the second to predict low ESG risk, which thereafter were combined into one final model. The results indicate that an increase in the Sustainable Development Index (SDI) translates into a decline in the odds of being assigned to the high-risk ESG group relative to the probability of being qualified to the low- or medium-risk ESG group. This study is the first to analyse the impact of actual exposures of the world’s largest banks to the fossil fuels sector on their ESG ratings. The value added is the use of a unique database, the focus on actual rather than declared effects of banks’ policies, and the use of a two-stage logistic regression model construction. The proved relationships are important and of practical relevance to bank managers, regulators, and ESG rating providers. Since the research is conducted on the basis of ESG provided only by one rating agency verification of conclusions with the use of ratings of other agencies, confronting benefits from financing the fossil fuels sector with losses resulting from an increase in the cost of obtaining financing are only selected directions for further research.

The aim of this study is to classify scientific research on the impact of ESG and climate-related risks on the conduct of the banking business. The systematic literature review was based on a bibliometric analysis of articles found in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The search was confined to materials published between 2000 and August 2023. After applying criteria limiting the search, the final result was 869 unique literature items which were later analysed towards establishing the relationship of ESG and climate-related risks (‘new banking risks’) with other (so-called ‘traditional’) banking risks and identifying research gaps at the interface between traditional and new banking risks. This article introduces a variety of findings, including the most productive authors, organisations, countries and journals, the most cited articles and keyword distribution. In addition, a map of the evolution of the approach to ESG risk in banking was constructed on the basis of the literature review. The study identified 11 clusters of banking risk influenced by ESG risk and 10 clusters of banking risk affected by climate-related risk.

Research background: The paper focuses on the research of investors? decisions with regard to shares of all 12 banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange during the first half of 2020. It examines the behavior of a subindex reflecting bank shares? prices against the main WIG index WIG and 14 sector subindices. The authors identify groups of banks with different investors? responses. They also classify banks into separate groups on the basis of changes in the fundamental indicators describing their economic and financial performance. The study concentrates mainly on the verification of the stability of this attribution, explaining reasons for its modifications over time. Purpose of the article: To identify the characteristics of bank clusters determining different capital market responses to their listed shares and to explain the reasons for volatility in investors? behavior within the analyzed period. Methods: The methodology of the research can be described in three areas. The first is the statistical analysis with the emphasis on the use of a quarter range to capture changes in the volatility of share prices. The second area is the clustering k-means method based on the interpolated ? from quarterly to daily ? measures of the bank?s financial condition. This mathematical approach is a novelty in finance and economics. The last, third, area is forecasting with the use of linear regression analysis, which is the key factor in determining the abnormal rates of return. The indicated areas are combined through a generally understood correlation analysis. Findings & value added: Large retail banks have been less affected compared to medium-sized ones with relatively rich corporate portfolios. The initial market reaction reflected concern about the resistance to the crisis of poorly capitalized banks with mean liquidity buffers. Upon the announcement of government support, investors? approach to the shares of banks of differentiated economic and financial performance conformed accordingly. These findings are valuable in the long term especially from the perspective of supervision authorities? policy during external shocks. The presented study suggests designing flexible and tailor-made regulatory approach aligned with the defined bank clusters. Its value added also consists in proposing a new method of analysis, combining interpolation and automatic clustering, which has proved to be adequate for the study of a bank?s financial condition based on daily frequency data. Furthermore, assuming the same length of the estimation window, a close relationship is shown between the results of clustering and the forecasts based on different measures of rates of return.

The outbreak of war in Ukraine raises questions about its impact on the economies and financial systems of countries directly and indirectly involved in the war, but also on the economies of non-participating countries. The article aims to identify the channels through which the war in Ukraine has affected commercial banking in Poland. The original contribution of this paper to the literature dedicated to the impact of the outbreak of war on financial sector consists in the identification of channels of direct and indirect effects of war on commercial bank performance, adoption of unique empirical strategy to point out features of banks determining their sensitivity to the materialisation of geopolitical risk as well as groups of banks whose shares move along similar trajectories during the war. The conclusions emphasize that the long-term negative indirect effects of the war outweigh the short-term indirect ones. The policy implications consist in the benefits of introduction of new reporting standards for banks that focus on the exposure of their clients to the geopolitical risk, augmentation of scope of risks to be covered by regulatory capital by geopolitical risk as well as creation scenarios of stress tests that would include geopolitical risk. Facing war, the implications for commercial banks’ managers come down to the necessity to prioritize cyber risk management and implement a new paradigm of credit and market risk assessment, taking into account the impact of geopolitical factors.