Standard Chartered Sets Senior Leadership Diversity Targets Across UK and US

Standard Chartered Bank has released its targets for ethnic representation in its UK and US senior leadership teams.

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“We believe that diversity is a competitive advantage and that companies should be accountable for ethnic representation and equality for all team members. This is about being transparent and living up to our valued behaviours of doing the right thing and never settle. ”

Diversity and inclusion are embedded in the Bank’s values and are an inherent part of its brand and culture. Standard Chartered believes that its staff should reflect the diverse markets in which it operates.

Today, the Bank has 129 nationalities within its workforce. Thirty one percent of the Board are of African and Asian nationalities and its Global Management Team comprises members from a variety of markets including India, US, UK, Singapore and Germany. Seventy one percent of all the Bank’s market CEOs are of African, Asian or Middle Eastern heritage.

“Having a workforce whose nationality and ethnicity are broadly representative of our markets and client base mean we can understand and support our colleagues and our clients better. It also helps us make fair decisions, remain open and transparent, and make sure that hiring decisions are always made based on a candidate’s skills suitability for the job. Setting these goals will help us to track and drive progress.”

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Here are just a few of the initiatives currently progressing at the Bank in the Europe and Americas region:

• To date, over 98% of the Bank’s People Leaders have completed its Global Inclusive Leadership Programme, which emphasises awareness of unconscious bias in decision making, promotes a culture of inclusion, empowers them to lead by example in role modelling inclusive behaviours and guides them to actively consider diversity and inclusion in key people decisions.
• Launched a How to have conversations about race toolkit, which assists colleagues, employee resource groups and People leaders with understanding the historical contexts, regional complexities and how to begin the conversation on race as a starting point to drive change.
• Taken proactive steps in our recruitment practices to eliminate barriers to reaching a wider pool of ethnic minority candidates.
• Launched targeted development programmes such as, mentoring, reciprocal mentoring, coaching and sponsorship.
• The Bank has committed to the 10,000 Black Interns campaign¹, enabling more opportunities for Black students in the UK.
• Signed up to Business in the Community’s Race at Work Charter², an initiative in partnership with the UK government, designed to improve outcomes for Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) employees in the UK.
• Partnered with Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America (LEDA) to support its mission of building a diverse talent pipeline for the next generation of leaders by helping exceptional US students from under-resourced backgrounds gain access to higher education and professional development.
• Establishing partnerships with a number of racially diverse schools and colleges in the US.
• Our Origins, Nationality and Ethnicity (ONE) Employee Resource Groups focus on promoting increased cultural awareness and providing support to colleagues across the UK and the US.
• The Bank leverages Futuremakers³ to work with the East London Business Alliance (ELBA) to support the Parity Project, a programme to support young Black men who disproportionately struggle with unemployment or underemployment.
• Launched a pilot of Futuremakers RISE mentoring programme which will create a pipeline for talent from the Banks’ communities by raising awareness of early career opportunities and providing workshops to prepare for the application process.