Summary
Banking, finance and investment form an integrated framework for the mobilisation, allocation and management of capital across economies. Banks act as intermediaries by accepting deposits, extending loans and providing payment services, while non-bank financial institutions—such as insurance companies, pension funds and asset managers—offer risk pooling, retirement provision and portfolio construction. Financial markets enable firms and governments to raise equity and debt, establish price discovery for interest rates and share ownership, and permit investors to diversify risk. Core instruments include shares (equity claims on future earnings), bonds (fixed-income obligations), derivatives (contracts that transfer or hedge exposures) and structured products. The pricing of these instruments rests on discounting expected cash flows for time value and uncertainty, as captured by models of asset pricing and portfolio allocation. Advances in risk management have woven capital-adequacy frameworks, stress testing and market-based indicators into institutional safeguards. Meanwhile, technological innovations—from digital payments to algorithmic trading—are reshaping distribution channels and credit assessment. A growing strand of research and practice embeds environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into finance, giving rise to green bonds, sustainability-linked loans and carbon-risk disclosures. These developments underscore finance’s central role in driving economic growth, fostering innovation and steering resources towards sustainable and inclusive outcomes.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Recent analyses have quantified how targeted green-lending initiatives and renewable-energy deployment deliver measurable environmental benefits. One empirical study using panel-moment methods across Chinese provinces shows that a 1 per cent increase in renewable-energy consumption reduces carbon dioxide emissions by around 0.1 per cent, with green-credit schemes proving most effective in regions with supportive policy landscapes. Complementary research on corporate sustainability reveals that the adoption of formal carbon-accounting practices enhances firms’ environmental performance indices, although larger workforce size and resource intensity can moderate these gains, suggesting a need for fintech-driven transparency and tax incentives. In the banking sphere, network-analysis of contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) demonstrates that these loss-absorbing securities bolster stability in moderately connected interbank systems, whereas in highly interconnected networks premature triggers may amplify contagion risks, highlighting the importance of capital-structure design in complex financial ecosystems.
Topic trend for the past 5 years
The graph below shows the article count in Nature Index journals for banking, finance and investment.
* The ‘Current Index’ represents data for a 12-month rolling window, the current window is 1 May 2025 - 30 April 2026.
Technical terms
Green finance: Mobilisation of capital through dedicated financial instruments and credit channels to fund projects that deliver environmental benefits.
Carbon accounting: Systematic measurement and reporting of greenhouse-gas emissions associated with corporate activities to inform investment and regulatory decisions.
Contingent convertible bond (CoCo): A hybrid debt instrument that automatically converts into equity or absorbs losses when a bank’s capital ratio falls below a predetermined threshold.
FinTech: The application of digital technology and data analytics to financial services to improve efficiency, access and innovation.
Notable articles in banking, finance and investment
- Plastic futures and their CO2 emissions. Nature (2022).
- A climate stress-test of the financial system. Nature Climate Change (2017).
- The rise of South–South trade and its effect on global CO2 emissions. Nature Communications (2018).
- Low-carbon innovation induced by emissions trading in China. Nature Communications (2019).
- The changing value of the ‘green’ label on the US municipal bond market. Nature Climate Change (2018).
- The global power sector’s low-carbon transition may enhance sustainable development goal achievement. Nature Communications (2023).
- Targeted opportunities to address the climate–trade dilemma in China. Nature Climate Change (2015).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Research
Position of Banking, Finance and Investment in Nature Index by Count
Leading institutions
| Institution | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard University | 19 | 9.72 |
| Xiamen University (XMU) | 11 | 8.16 |
| Hohai University (HHU) | 9 | 7.46 |
| Tsinghua University | 15 | 7.22 |
| National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) | 33 | 6.77 |
| Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) | 11 | 6.58 |
| Imperial College London (ICL) | 11 | 4.44 |
| Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve Board) | 9 | 4.36 |
| North China Electric Power University (NCEPU) | 7 | 4.23 |
| Stanford University | 16 | 4.16 |
Collaboration
Top 5 leading collaborators in Banking, Finance and Investment
Collaborating institutions
Note: Hover over the bars to view details about each institution's Share.
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