From Graduate to Director – How Standard Chartered supported me to build a successful career in the Greater Bay Area

When I first joined the Bank on the Graduate Programme in 2010, I instantly knew that Standard Chartered was the ideal organisation to build my career with. After graduating from The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, I spent two years as a Graduate at Standard Chartered, Hong Kong. After gaining experience and working in different roles in Hong Kong and Shanghai for some years, I joined the Greater Bay Area (GBA) CEO Office as the Director of Business Management and Development.

Laying the foundations for a global career on the Graduate Programme

During the Graduate Programme, I rotated through various departments within the Bank. By working closely with each team, I was able to develop a broad understanding of how the Bank operated in the region. I gained a wealth of experience in cross-function collaborations, how the Bank drives its vision and brand, and managing stakeholder relationships. The knowledge I obtained from my colleagues and the projects that I was involved in during my rotations provided me with a solid foundation to build my future career.

Driving innovation through my roles

As a graduate, I was able to offer a fresh perspective on the Bank’s daily operations. Soon after joining the programme, I identified a new way to further empower and incentivise the Banks’ talents, which motivated me to start a project of my own with a fellow graduate. We worked together to produce a paper detailing our ideas and then presented it to the leadership team. Senior leaders were impressed with our initiative and supported us to bring the project to fruition. Despite this project being outside of my job mandate, management provided us with lots of valuable insights and advice and supported us to take the project forward.

Broadening my horizons

When I relocated to Shanghai to work on an innovative project, my team and I were tasked with developing a new product that was centered around both lending and investment. This was a truly unique learning experience similar to creating my own start-up within the organisation. My team and I utilised our expertise to build the product from scratch and then pitched the idea to stakeholders. I am very proud that the Bank trusted in my abilities enough to ask me to be a part of this team and I am grateful for being able to get a taste of the exciting opportunities so early in my career.

Building a global career in the Greater Bay Area

Since joining the Bank, I have benefitted from the unique opportunities the Greater Bay Area’s thriving market produces. It is a very interesting market to work in and I have benefited from its fantastic opportunities for development and growth. The region’s strategic positioning has allowed me to gain a wide range of exposure in some of Standard Chartered’s largest markets and sectors such as eCommerce and ESG. For me, the best thing about working in the Greater Bay Area is being able to work on complex and innovative projects such as cross-border payments and investments as well as global partnerships with some of the world’s largest and most influential businesses.

The Greater Bay Area creates opportunities for me to work on high-impact and strategic initiatives and partnerships in one of the world’s biggest and most rapidly expanding markets.

Patricia Szeto Director of Business Management and Development, CEO Office, Greater Bay Area

Balancing my professional and personal life

The environment at the Bank’s GBA CEO office is fluid and dynamic. We are collaborative and work together to design, execute and refine our cross-border strategies according to the latest policy, market and technological developments. As one of the most influential and trusted banks in the region, Standard Chartered attracts the best talent in the region and with such an open and friendly office culture, I have hugely benefited from working beside them.

The Bank has accompanied me through many important milestones in my life since joining them after graduating from university. It has always been incredibly helpful and accommodating towards my needs and recognises the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Since becoming a mother four years ago, my managers supported me to work flexibly so that I could balance taking care of my family and the responsibilities of leading complex projects and initiatives at the same time.