---
title: How important are ESG factors for banks' cost of debt? An empirical investigation
url: https://www.ml-quant.com/papers/ssrn/5270535/
site: ML-Quant (https://www.ml-quant.com)
updated: 2026-09-26
license: Summaries CC BY 4.0; links go to the original sources
index: https://www.ml-quant.com/llms.txt
identifier: SSRN 5270535
source_url: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5270535
featured: 2025-05-30
citations: 7
topic: Risk, Credit & Banking
---


# How important are ESG factors for banks' cost of debt? An empirical investigation

The paper explores the link between banks' ESG scores and their funding costs, concluding that higher ESG ratings positively influence funding costs and that changes in ESG ratings significantly impact banks' bond yields.

- Source: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5270535
- Identifier: SSRN 5270535
- Released: 2025-05-27
- First featured: Quant Letter No. 99 (2025-05-30): https://www.ml-quant.com/issues/2025-05-30/
- Citations (Semantic Scholar): 7
- Published in: not yet
- Topic: Risk, Credit & Banking

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