In the aftermath of the global financial crisis apparently little has changed. Financial institutions continue to do “business as usual”. Major players in the financial sector still violate national law, and are complicit in environmental destruction and human rights infringements due to questionable lending practices. While companies frequently boast themselves in public of being members of certain initiatives or following specific, globally recognised guidelines and principles, in business reality companies often tend to fall short with their aspirations communicated publicly. This paper claims that corporate social responsibility and sustainability strategies as well as current measures implemented are not effective enough to induce a substantial change with regard to more responsible business behaviour. Voluntary memberships at initiatives, commitments to globally recognised principles and guidelines, as well as internal policies are frequently disregarded when it comes to investment decisions. Therefore, after more than 20 years practice of voluntary measures it is about time for a critical assessment with regard to their effectiveness in changing corporate behaviour to the good. This paper aims to present a more differentiated and comprehensive picture of the business reality, particularly in the finance sector. For this purpose, publicly communicated corporate responsibility approaches by two major financial institutions are presented and contrasted with the actual business practice.