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Purpose As reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) information is not yet mandatory in all countries, it is intriguing to understand ESG’s underlying driving mechanisms. This study aims to investigate ESG determinants in the banking sector of the Middle East and North Africa countries. Design/methodology/approach The authors gather data for 38 listed banks for the period 2011–2019. The data used is threefold as follows: data related to ESG; firm-level; and country-level data. While ESG and firm’s level data are taken from Refinitiv, country-level data are extracted from the World Bank. Using panel regression, the authors test the effect of firm- and country-specific variables on the overall ESG score and its pillars. Findings Results indicate that banks’ ESG scores are negatively affected by performance and positively affected by size. The level of economic development exerts a negative impact on the environmental pillar while the social development exerts a positive impact on ESG and governance pillar. Corruption is the only country-level that gathers a homogenous effect on ESG scores. Finally, the three pillars follow heterogeneous patterns. Originality/value This study extends the scope of previous studies by introducing new country-level independent variables to contribute to the understanding of ESG antecedents.

Purpose: This study investigates the relationship between the level of sustainability reporting and banks and financial services 'performance (operational, financial and market) across seven different regions (Asia, Europe, Mena, Africa, North and South America). Design/Methodology/Approach: Using data culled from 4458 observations from 60 different countries for ten years (2008-2017), we investigate the effect of the Environment, Social and Governance score (ESG) and the three pillars on banks' performance [Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Tobin's Q (TQ)]. We also control for bankspecific, macroeconomic and governance effects. Findings:The findings pinpoint negative relationship between ESG on one hand and operational performance (ROA), financial performance (ROE) and market performance (TQ) on the other hand. From regional and pillar perspectives, the performance is differently affected following ESG, pillar, and region perspectives.Originality/Value: The novelty of this paper lies in the inclusion of different political and economic contexts. Our findings have significant theoretical implications for policy makers and academics at the international level. Banks and financial services sectors' management lacunae manifest in terms of the weak nexus between ESG, pillars, and banks and financial services' performance.