Description:

Standard Chartered has a strong presence in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and earns more than 90% of its operating income and profits in these regions. The bank's operating income in 2008 was US$14 billion. It has 73,800 employees located in 75 different countries and made up of 125 nationalities. In 2008 the bank's total community investment commitment was US$48.5 million (US$30.4 million of which was made up of cash contributions). These cash contributions rose by 67% on the previous year, outstripping growth in profit before taxation of 13.2%.

Further information:

http://www.standardchartered.com/

Dilemma: Maintaining the momentum of global HIV/AIDS prevention education

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a serious impact on many communities where the bank does business. Standard Chartered has recognised that whilst there remains no cure or vaccine, innovative approaches are needed in order to prevent infection in the first place. The bank also recognises that global efforts to expand access to ART to some degree rely on progress being made in reducing new HIV infections. As the global economic situation and climate change increasingly dominate the international political agenda, the bank is continuing its efforts to ensure momentum is not lost in efforts to equip people with the information to protect themselves from HIV. Standard Chartered believes that this contributes to the sustainability of their business by helping create healthy and economically productive communities.

Good practice: The Living with HIV programme

The Standard Chartered Living with HIV programme aims to reduce the spread of HIV by encouraging behavioural change through education. Employee volunteers ('HIV Champions'), are tasked with raising awareness of HIV/AIDS within the bank and community. Their work also includes the development of tailored workplace HIV education programmes with external organisations, and the training of volunteers inside these organisations to act as peer educators, all free of charge.

The bank also has a complimentary online initiative called AntiHIVirus. This is aimed at making the facts about HIV/AIDS available to young people in an easily accessible way - helping them make safe lifestyle choices and reducing stigma. AntiHIVirus presents these facts using engaging multimedia methods - including animated 'edutainment' modules and blogs - and presents information in 10 different languages. The bank also includes publicly available online training modules on its website.

These group-wide initiatives sit alongside the bank's more localised efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS. These include

• Work in India to educate long distance truck drivers and their families; a traditionally high risk group
• Use of ATM machines in a number of markets (including Thailand, Malaysia and Dubai) to communicate HIV/AIDS information
• High-profile visits and HIV events in Nigeria and Sri Lanka by senior executives and employees
• A magazine-based publicity campaign in Singapore

Results: On track to meet its Clinton Global Initiative commitment

Standard Chartered is on track to meet its Clinton Global Initiative commitment to educate one million people about HIV/AIDS by 2010. In 2008, the number of HIV Champions more than doubled to 1,000 across 50 countries, whilst to date more than 4,000 external peer educators had received training and over 150,000 people have received face-to-face HIV education. At the end of 2008, the bank had commitments from external organisations - including small and medium-sized business customers in Africa - to educate more than 400,000 of their people. During 2008, all HIV Champions received refresher training, and regional 'train the trainer' sessions were held for Africa, Asia and South America.