Depositors Disciplining Banks: The Impact of Scandals

Abstract

Do depositors react to negative non-financial information about their banks? By using branch level data for the United States, I show that banks, that financed the highly controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, experienced significant decreases in deposit growth, especially in branches located closest to the pipeline. These effects were greater for branches located in environmentally or socially conscious counties, and data suggests that savings banks were among the main beneficiaries of this depositor movement. Using a global hand-collected dataset on tax evasion, corruption, and environmental scandals related to banks, I show that negative deposit growth as a reaction to scandals is a widespread phenomenon.