| Abstract |
The research question the paper aims to investigate is whether increasing awareness and implication of civil society's representatives into the financial markets field will determine financial institutions to adjust their products, services and practices to a more socially and environmentally responsible way. In our scientific approach we have started from the finding of a low stage of civil society intervention in the financial world and the need for a more obvious manifestation of civism in this thematic area. Recent post crisis developments highlight the need for adopting a more robust attitude and discourse of civil society on the issues related to financial markets and institutions. The paper will comprehensively review the current state of art of the civil society's position as a vector of opinion and action related to the sustainable business models, products and practices in the financial industry. The contemporaneous involvement of civil society's representatives will be assessed differentiated, through a multi-field approach, by looking at the three segments of the financial market: the banking sector, the capital market and the insurance sector. In addition, we'll try to highlight if civil society might position itself at the core of changes in conventional banking, by influencing banking practices. This issue stands from the numerous lawsuits that European Union customers have opened against abusive banking practices. Another direction of study is represented by the civil society monetization, consisting in the mobilization of financial resources in the economy, without the traditional appeal to financial intermediation, which is expected to create a major shift in the sustainable financial industry. |
