Reflecting on 2024, what were your bank’s major milestones from an operational perspective and how did you achieve them? Conversely, what were the setbacks and challenges encountered along the way, and what measures were taken to surmount them?

With a continued focus on our affluent strategy, 2024 was a strong year for Standard Chartered Global Private Bank. We achieved strong and sustainable growth while maintaining a robust cost discipline. Besides business growth, we did well to elevate client experience and enhance our operating efficiencies through technology investments. This was reflected through positive client feedback and increased engagement, giving the team confidence to do more to improve client experience.

Admittedly, transformation comes with its share of challenges and changes. We realised early on the importance of aligning operations to business goals. With the organisation globally aligned and supported by standardised platforms and processes, the business will be able to scale in a meaningful manner. Our global change enablement unit, which is a ground-up initiative supported by colleagues in each of our markets, greatly facilitated communication flow and ensured consistency between the locations. This global alignment has made a difference to our transformation effort.

Operational resilience is at the top of private bank’s minds and cyber resilience has also moved up the agenda in recent years. How does your bank effectively manage third-party dependencies and enhance the operational resilience against the failure of third-party IT solutions?

We believe in proactive mitigation of risk to ensure operation resilience. To this end, Standard Chartered focuses on operational resilience by ensuring that we can prevent, adapt, respond to, recover, and learn from operational disruptions. This approach is designed to minimise the impact on our bank’s clients, the financial system, and the broader economy.

Where third-party dependencies are concerned, we evaluate the risks associated with third-party service providers, ensuring that these third parties have adequate controls and measures in place to manage potential disruptions. This includes conducting thorough due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and reviewing of third parties’ resilience capabilities. Standard Chartered also ensures that third-party arrangements are aligned with the bank’s own resilience objectives and regulatory requirements, thereby safeguarding the continuity of critical operations and services.

The pandemic popularised work-from-home (WFH) policies and saw a rise in demand for flexible working arrangements. As we transition into a post-pandemic era, what are your bank’s policies in the areas of WFH, flexible work and parental leave? How has WFH impacted the bank’s operating costs, including the need for office space? Are flexible working arrangements and WFH here to stay for the long term?

Standard Chartered has embraced a flexible work policy globally, including work-from-home (WFH) arrangements and corresponding supportive policies, in this post-pandemic era. The bank was among the first to formally adopt and transition to flexi-work arrangements during the pandemic.

The positive impact of flexible working at Standard Chartered is evident in the increased satisfaction with work-life balance. Overall colleague engagement has steadily increased in the last few years, as colleagues and teams globally fully embraced the policy and are better able to balance work and personal priorities. Flexible working arrangements and WFH are here to stay at Standard Chartered. As a people leader and a full-time working parent, I personally value this culture at Standard Chartered and it is a crucial differentiator in attracting and retaining talent.