Track Description
The ongoing digital transformation of the banking industry is restructuring traditional intermediation mechanisms and redefining how financial institutions pursue efficiency, innovation, and sustainability goals (Bank for International Settlements, 2021; Elia et al., 2023; Mäkitie et al., 2023; Ferilli, 2025). In the era of global environmental and social challenges, digital finance represents both a catalyst and a constraint in achieving sustainable development goals (European Commission, 2024). Emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and several FinTech-based infrastructures, are enabling banks to create new forms of value, enhance risk assessment practices, and align business models with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) objectives (Cicchiello et al., 2023; Cicchiello et al., 2025; Hadhri et al., 2025; Rega et al., 2025; Mohammed et al., 2024; Yin et al., 2025). However, this technological acceleration also raises fundamental questions about the balance between innovation and sustainability (Morea et al., 2025). The adoption of data-intensive, algorithmic, and platform-based systems may generate both opportunities and challenges in achieving green and inclusive finance. Moreover, the digitalization of accounting, reporting, and assurance processes increasingly determines how sustainability is measured, verified, and disclosed—thereby influencing capital allocation and stakeholder trust (European Commission 2022 and 2024; OECD, 2025).

In this context, policymakers and banking supervisory authorities emphasize the need to understand the technology–sustainability trade-off, which represents a crucial dimension in assessing whether digital transformation fosters sustainable banking or, conversely, introduces new forms of risk, inequality, and opacity (European Commission 2024).

This track aims to foster scholarly debate on how emerging technologies, AI-driven tools, and FinTech-enabled innovations affect the sustainable transformation of banking business models, both as drivers of change and as potential sources of unintended consequences. Given the increasing relevance of the topic in the academic literature, we welcome theoretical, empirical, and policy-oriented contributions that examine the dual impact of digital technologies on environmental and social sustainability, encompassing both enabling mechanisms and emerging risks.
Relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

• Emerging technologies (e.g., AI, ML, could computing) and data analytics as tools for ESG assessment, climate risk modelling, and sustainable lending (Morea et al., 2025);
• Digital platforms and tokenization of sustainable assets (e.g., green bonds, ESG tokens, carbon credits);
• FinTech and RegTech solutions enhancing (or challenging) transparency, accountability, and regulatory compliance (e.g., CSRD, SFDR, EU Taxonomy) (Anagnostopoulos, 2018; Porzio et al., 2023);
• FinTech solutions for impact investing, sustainable crowdfunding, and decentralized finance (DeFi) supporting green innovation (Cicchiello et al., 2023);
• Digital infrastructures and digital platforms supporting green and inclusive financial services (Stefanelli et al., 2022; Ferilli et al., 2024);
• Digital sustainability accounting, integrated reporting, and data-driven ESG assurance through AI and blockchain technologies;
• Big Data and NLP applications in climate- and ESG-related disclosure analysis;
• Reconfiguration of bank business models through sustainability-oriented technological innovation (Stefanelli & Manta, 2023; Ferilli, 2025);
• Ethical, governance, and accountability challenges associated with the use of new technologies and AI adoption in the banking industry.

The track particularly encourages interdisciplinary submissions in finance, accounting, technology, and sustainability research. Comparative and cross-country analyses are welcome, as are studies combining quantitative methods, qualitative approaches, and case-based evidence. Overall, the objective is to advance a rigorous and balanced academic debate on how digital transformation and new technologies can foster (or hinder) the transition toward a sustainable, resilient, and equitable banking ecosystem.