Banking & Finance
Standard Chartered’s 2023 Profit & HR Excellence
Standard Chartered’s strong financial performance in 2023, coupled with its dedication to HR excellence, highlights the bank’s capability to thrive in a complex global environment. Standard Chartered maintains its position as a leader in the financial services sector by prioritizing skills development, progressive benefits, psychological safety, and effective change management.
Standard Chartered posts $5.7B profit in 2023, driven by smart HR strategy, skills-first focus, and strong employee engagement.
Standard Chartered, the UK-based banking powerhouse, reported a robust $5.7 billion profit for 2023—up 10% year-on-year—despite global macroeconomic headwinds. The bank’s $17.4 billion in total operating income highlights its operational strength across 53 markets with over 85,000 employees.
According to Group Chairman Dr. José Viñals, the stellar performance was a direct result of “clear strategy, financial discipline, and relentless execution” under the leadership of Group CEO Bill Winters.
Yet, beyond the numbers, Standard Chartered’s human capital strategy is emerging as a major driver of growth.
In 2023, Tanuj Kapilashrami, formerly Chief Human Resources Officer, assumed the role of Chief Strategy and Talent Officer—a deliberate move integrating people, business strategy, and transformation.
Kapilashrami told UNLEASH that her mission has always been to align talent development with business transformation, emphasizing the bank’s shift to a skills-first organization.
“We saw early on that many roles were becoming obsolete due to tech disruption—so we focused on reskilling from within,” she said.
Since 2019, Standard Chartered has transformed workforce planning by identifying “sunset jobs” at risk of automation and creating pathways toward “sunrise jobs” in cybersecurity, data science, sustainability, and other high-growth areas.
Key initiatives include:
- Future Skills Academies in cybersecurity, data, and ESG
- Partnership with EdCast (now part of Cornerstone OnDemand) for continuous learning
- Launch of an AI-powered internal talent marketplace with Gloat, matching employees to gigs and full-time roles
So far, over 32,000 employees have engaged with the marketplace, completing more than 2,500 internal projects.
Standard Chartered continues to raise the bar on employee well-being with equalized parental leave, regardless of gender or marital status. The policy raised leave from 2 to 8+ weeks in most countries.
Further, the bank offers menopause health coverage via its insurance providers—an industry-first in markets lacking robust healthcare systems.
Kapilashrami explained, “These benefits are designed not only to support our people but to reinforce inclusion across life stages.”
A core part of Standard Chartered’s HR strategy is boosting psychological safety—critical for innovation and retention. Using two-way performance feedback, psychological safety scores improved 20 percentage points in 2023.
This system, powered by Qualtrics, captures real-time feedback, enabling teams to course-correct and support employee development throughout the year.
“Employees need to know where they stand and how to grow,” Kapilashrami noted. “It leads to higher trust, creativity, and performance.”
Standard Chartered takes a bottom-up approach to change management, co-creating its HR future with staff. For instance, in shaping its hybrid work model, employees were asked to recreate the “watercooler experience”—resulting in unique ways of maintaining informal team bonding virtually.
The goal? Design policies that reflect how people want to work while maintaining productivity.
As global financial institutions face rising expectations from both shareholders and employees, Standard Chartered is proving that profitability and people-centricity are not mutually exclusive.
With double-digit growth in key markets, a talent-first strategy, and inclusive policies that promote well-being, the bank is positioning itself as a future-ready employer and financial leader.
“Our success in 2023 is not just a financial milestone,” said Kapilashrami. “It reflects the values, vision, and resilience of our people.”
- Standard Chartered Financial Growth
- Skills-First Workforce Strategy
- Employee Experience and Retention
- Progressive Parental Leave Policy
- AI-Powered Talent Marketplace
- Sustainable Banking Leadership