The combination of banking business and sustainable finance represents, for banks, a multiple challenge, which intercepts the strategic, managerial and operational dimensions. The urgent need to enhance sustainable finance as a leverage for value creation, rather than as an additional element of regulatory compliance, requires rethinking the approach to environmental and social sustainability of banks starting from the business idea. In this perspective, this article proposes a prototype Esg-oriented business model useful for banking intermediaries to design their own and distinctive sustainability strategy; the model is based on a framework of distinctive variables of a pure sustainable bank, which calls for a holistic approach to sustainability.
