STANDARD CHARTERED BANK
ALWAYS STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE
H
ong Kong has been through a tough year with the social unrest, geopolitics, and the pandemic. The pandemic has also brought great uncertainties in multiple industries, especially in the banking sector. Amidst the uncertainties, Standard Chartered Bank had to make prompt decisions and do what is best for the health and safety of their staff and clients. “The challenge for us leaders was how can we provide a more flexible working arrangement that supports our employees’ needs based on their individual circumstances,” said Mary Huen, CEO, Hong Kong, Standard Chartered. “As a bank committed to be ‘Here for good’, we believe it is our responsibility to support our clients as well as the community,” she added, as the bank has also helped assist people and many local businesses struggling to make it against the challenging backdrop. For this, the bank was named as the Bank of the Year for 2020. In an interview with Hong Kong Business, Huen shares how the bank was able to thrive as they conquered the challenges brought upon by the crises. Response to the pandemic These unprecedented times ask for robust scenario planning from leaders, allowing them to respond regardless of the situation. “During these exceptional times, we all need to demonstrate exceptional leadership. To do this requires a mix of core leadership
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skills and human skills,” said Huen, noting three main points that leaders should consider in their pandemic response— Always Be Crisis-ready (ABC), empathy for people and staff, and institutionalising a mindset of continuous improvement and learning. Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong showed that they were able to do these as their crisis management team, along with various business and supporting teams, worked tirelessly to monitor the situation closely, provide timely reports and implemented precautionary measures and contact tracing to ensure the safety of the workplace and that critical operations and frontline staff felt protected. Beyond supporting their employees, Standard Chartered Bank Hong Kong also rolled out various relief measures to help individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), and corporate clients. These measures included mortgage principal payment holiday, principal moratorium, trade finance loan extension, relief cash loans for eligible applicants, fee waivers for credit card late payments and local fund transfers. Furthermore, they supported corporate and multinational clients in their digital transition so they could quickly adapt and continue servicing their stakeholders. “We’ve always been working actively on building our social capital. This ties back to our brand promise ‘Here for good’,” said Huen.
