By Kim Jae-won
Standard Chartered Korea (SCK) believes that its business is based on the help of local community members. So, the local subsidiary of the U.K. banking group uses its own term of “community investment” when it refers to corporate social responsibility, or better known as CSR.
SCK set four strategies to address its community investment effectively. First of all, it supports the community on a permanent basis. The financial company does not take social responsibility activities as one-off events, but engages in the community, running regular programs.
Second, it encourages all employees to take part in the activities. SCK provided workers with paid holidays for volunteer programs titled “Volunteerism Holiday” in 2006 to encourage employees and executives to join the group’s CSR programs. Every worker in the group can use two paid days holiday per year to volunteer. Many employees have taken part in the program. So far this year, Standard Chartered First Bank employees used a total of 5,783 days in holidays to volunteer.
Third, it provides support for the underprivileged in cooperation with other social groups. SCK employees perform various acts from volunteering for the visually impaired and delivering briquettes to low-income families to taking care of mentally challenged children.
Last, it seeks to protect the environment. About 600 SCK employees planted trees in Seoul Forest celebrating World Environment Day, which falls on June 5. The group’s employees also cleaned dirty beaches in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, polluted by oil leaked from an oil tanker three years ago.
SCK’s volunteerism spirit came from its parent group. By encouraging employee volunteering across its organization, SCK workers join the heart of the company’s community investment programs.
Through them, SCK partners with local governments, non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations and other private sector companies tackling issues such as HIV and AIDS, preventable blindness and the prevalence of malaria.
SCK’s staff work in partnership with the communities in which it operates. The behavior of its people underpins the way SCK runs its business in a sustainable manner.
Standard Chartered’s focus on the basics of banking is a key element of its sustainability strategy. It adopts a conservative approach to capital and liquidity management. It has a stringent risk management framework and maintains a flexible cost base. Its approach allows the organization to offer a long-term commitment to its customers and the markets.