A Thomson Reuters survey of banks shows that the financial services firms are devoting fewer resources to the analysis of corporate responsibility in various social fields, according to the Wall Street Journal.
These banks have spent less time in analyzing the social imprint of the companies they invest in, with many analysts either leaving their jobs or spending their time elsewhere.
The study showed that banks such as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Merrill Lynch were among those groups that had cut back their pursuit of social analysis in the last few months. At Merrill Lynch in particular, 20 analysts left in January due to the Bank of America buyout.
“Clearly, earlier this year some of the banks were making cuts across the board, and as part of that some of them changed their approach to [social responsibility] analysis,” said Penny Green, chief executive of the U.K. Social Investment Forum.