Standard Charter : Joanna Fielding

Outline
This case study outlines the work of Joanna Fielding, Chief Financial Officer in China, for Standard Chartered Bank. Joanna has worked in London, New York and Singapore and has led teams in India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Dubai. In recognition of her own career success, the company’s Chairman asked Joanna to set up and Chair the Bank’s first Group Women’s Council. The Council is responsible for setting the gender diversity strategy and  overseeing related  initiatives across the Bank, currently covering over 70,000 employees in more than 70 countries. As Chair of the Council and a senior female  leader in the organisation, she has championed not only the advancement of women in the workplace, but also women’s empowerment in the community and the importance of women as customers. Within the Bank, her focus has been on providing development and networking opportunities for talented female employees, whilst at the same time building awareness across the organisation of the business case and benefits of diversity and inclusion.

Objectives
Joanna’s primary objective is to establish the  company as a leader in gender diversity. She has identified three key pillars to this ambition – women in the workplace, women as customers and women within the community. Within the workplace, Joanna aims to substantially increase the representation of women in middle and senior management. She has promoted a number of measures to enable employees to balance both their personal and professional commitments, as well as increasing employee motivation and productivity. She is focused on ensuring women realise their full potential through personal development and supportive workplace practices implemented in an engaging and  inclusive  culture.  Joanna is also responsible for promoting the opportunities the Bank has to better serve its female customers. This ranges from microfinance targeted to women, to SME banking services for female business owners. Within the community, her objective is to increase women’s empowerment, both leveraging and supporting the organisation’s broader sustainability agenda. She is also responsible for raising awareness of women’s economic contribution across the Bank’s markets.

Action
Joanna has instigated much new activity to help deliver on the Bank’s diversity agenda. She organised a Global Women’s Forum which brought together over 100 female leaders at middle management level to share experiences and attend development sessions.  She has launched a targeted mentoring programme and sponsored a leadership development programme for high potential women. The leadership programme helps women to develop greater self awareness of their personal values, attitudes and drivers, with the objective of ensuring that women understand and achieve their career aspirations. She has also promoted the development of business products that are designed and marketed to female customers, an example is four all female branches in India and Pakistan.

Under her guidance, the Bank has made a commitment to provide financial literacy training to 5,000 women across Asia over the next three years. Joanna has also taken many steps to raise awareness across the Bank and has ensured that Bank-wide staff, Including  senior management, are engaged and  supportive.