On September 6, 2022, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu had a meeting with Mr. Bill Winters, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Plc, and witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Agreements on Cooperation on Gender Equality between Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Ltd. and the Human Resource Department of the SBV.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu welcomed Mr. Bill Winters and his colleagues from Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited to visit and work with the SBV.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu at the meeting
The SBV Deputy Governor acknowledged and made high evaluation for the contributions of Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited in particular, and all English businesses in general to the economic development of Vietnam, and expressed his beliefs in the commitments for their long-term presence in Vietnam. The SBV Deputy Governor also spoke highly of the role of Standard Chartered as the exclusive consultant regarding the national credit ratings to the Government of Vietnam since 2012, as well as its active role in the Banking Working Group within the framework of Vietnam Business Forum (VBF). The SBV Deputy Governor also hoped that Standard Chartered could further promote and develop this policy dialogue channel to become more and more effective and practical.
Exchanging about the promotion of green economic and green finance, and the implementation of the climate targets, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu emphasized Vietnam’s need for support and cooperation from the top international financial institutions, especially the international experience and support resources to realize Vietnam’s commitments made at COP26. The SBV Deputy Governor highly appreciated the cooperation arrangement between Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to exploit the Climate Impact X platform, which is a global carbon exchange co-developed by Singaporean banks of DBS and Temasek, together with Standard Chartered Plc, and has been put into operation since late 2021. With the banking sector’s role as the bloodline of the whole economy and a critical contributor in providing capital resources for the development of green economy in Vietnam, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu hoped that Standard Chartered Plc could prioritize its resources for the development of green banking and green credit in Vietnam in the future.
Mr. Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered Plc at the meeting
Talking about the cooperation on gender equality, the SBV Deputy Governor asserted that, in Vietnam, gender equality always receives a lot of attention and facilitation from the Party, the State and the Government. Based on the National Strategy on Gender Equality, the SBV Governor had issued an Action Plan on gender equality for the advancement of women in the banking sector for the 2021-2030 period. Especially, in June 2022, on the occasion of the official visit of the Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam to the United Kingdom, the SBV Governor had a preliminary exchange with the leadership of Standard Chartered Plc about the potential cooperation on gender equality.
In order to effectively implement the above Action Plan, it is extremely important to have the support and cooperation from both international and domestic institutions, especially institutions having extensive experience and successes in this area. Therefore, the SBV has always been proactive and receptive in receiving feedbacks, recommendations and support from the international institutions to implement relevant activities to promote gender equality.
The SBV Deputy Governor added that, within the cooperation framework between the SBV and Standard Chartered Plc for the 2023-2025 period, the activities to promote gender equality in the banking sector would be implemented with further depths and practicality.
For his part, Mr. Bill Winters, CEO of Standard Chartered Plc, expressed his sincere thanks to the SBV Deputy Governor for his hospitality, and also his high evaluation for the operations of Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited. He also shared about Standard Chartered Plc’s activities to cooperate and support the Government of Vietnam in improving the national credit ratings, promoting sustainable growth and responding to climate change, as well as the orientations, objectives and development strategy of Standard Chartered Plc in Vietnam.
According to Mr. Bill Winters, Vietnam is a dynamic, fast-growing economy, especially with the development of the technical areas. Vietnam is also a country with a young, fundamentally-trained work force, and a favorable location to attract more investment from the multinationals. In order to further promote its presence and support its customers, Standard Chartered Plc has committed to increasing its capital investment in Vietnam, and strengthening the close cooperation with the SBV, as well as with other banks and businesses in Vietnam.
SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu and CEO Bill Winters of Standard Chartered Plc witness the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Agreements on Cooperation on Gender Equality
For the sustainable development agenda, Mr. Bill Winters emphasized that this is a top priority for Standard Chartered Plc, with the goal of mitigating climate risks in the markets and the communities where the bank is presented. Regarding its engagement in Vietnam Business Forum, Mr. Bill Winters confirmed that it is very important, helping Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Ltd. to connect between the international community, international experience with the domestic partners and businesses, supporting the economic development, creating a sustainable development process, therefore, Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Ltd. would continue to put more efforts into this area.
According to the CEO of Standard Chartered Plc, the signing of the Memorandum of Agreements on Cooperation between the SBV and Standard Chartered Plc reflected the strong cooperation commitments between the two sides to the implementation of relevant activities to promote gender equality in Vietnam's banking industry.
On this occasion, SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu and CEO Bill Winters of Standard Chartered Plc witnessed the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Agreements on Cooperation on Gender Equality between the Human Resource Department of the SBV and Standard Chartered Bank (Vietnam) Limited.
Le Hang