Sustainability

Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, embedding sustainability and responsibility across our business, operations and communities. By focusing on three pillars – Sustainable Finance, Responsible Company and Inclusive Communities – we believe we can deliver sustainable prosperity in line with our valued behaviours and our promise to be Here for good.

This approach is framed around a Sustainability Philosophy that informs our decision-making, Position Statements that set out our environmental and social client standards, a Supplier Charter that shares the principles of the behaviours we expect from our suppliers and a list of Prohibited Activities that sets out the activities that the Bank will not finance. Our approach is underpinned by our Sustainability Aspirations, which provide tangible targets for sustainable business outcomes aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). During 2020, we refreshed our Aspirations to reflect that some had concluded, and introduced new goals to support our evolving strategy, such as developing a suite of Retail Banking sustainable finance products. To ensure accurate and trustworthy data, we have engaged Deloitte to provide assurance over performance data related to selected Sustainability Aspirations. The findings of this assurance exercise will contribute towards our continued work to strengthen how we track and report progress on our Aspirations, including as part of our commitment to the UN Principles for Responsible Banking. We participate in a number of industry platforms and working groups, supporting Sustainable Finance Here for good Inclusive Communities Responsible Company our progress and that of the industry as we demonstrate our contribution to achieving the UN SDGs. Climate change has widespread and proven impacts on the physical environment, human health and potential adverse impact on economic growth. This, coupled with the global impact of COVID-19 and the methods in place for recovery, has shown that now, more than ever, we need to act to reduce our impact on the environment and meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

In keeping with its brand promise to be Here for good, particularly in times of adversity, Standard Chartered (the Group) launched a $50 million global fund providing assistance to those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The Group donate $25 million to support emergency relief in our most affected markets. In order to combat Covid-19 in Nepal, the Bank contributed around USD 500,000 in 2020 through various implementing partners. In 2021, we also donated various medical equipment and additional USD 140,000for COVID emergency relief activities in the country.

Financial Literacy and Volunteering programs are equally supported by our staff all across. Volunteering offers employees an opportunity to use their skills to make a unique contribution to the local causes that they support. This helps us as an organisation to forge stronger relationships with the communities in which we operate, helping us to integrate more closely at a local level. The current situation of Covid-19 has helped new ways of volunteering where some of our staff also participated in virtual financial literacy programs. The Bank collaborated with our GOAL program partner Childreach Nepal to conduct virtual financial literacy sessions early 2021 for high school students titled “Money Savvy”.On 26th February 2021 Diversity and Inclusion team members of the bank conducted a Financial Literacy program for high school students of “Adarsha Higher Secondary School”, a government school located at Thimi. Blood donation program was supported by Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Limited’s Narayanghat Branch at the premises of Bhat Bhateni Super Market at Narayanaghat on 29 July 2021, where some of the staff of the branch also donated blood.