Board diversity

We welcome Lord Davies’ report entitled “Women on Boards”. Standard Chartered, with its distinctive footprint, has a long history of diverse board membership.

Currently, we have a diverse mix of ethnicity, gender and experience on the Board including two women and four different nationalities. There are six directors who have lived and worked across Asia, Africa and/or the Middle East.

We have commenced a comprehensive review of our Board’s composition, looking forward to 2015 and beyond. This review is being facilitated through the Board Nomination Committee and will be discussed by the Board over the coming months. We would expect to provide a summary of the outcome of our review in the 2011 Corporate Governance report to be published in the first quarter of 2012.

At Standard Chartered, we strongly believe that a highly effective Board is about chemistry and behaviours, underpinned by robust processes.

Our Board contains individuals who have diverse skills, knowledge and experiences that combine to provide different perspectives and effective board dynamics. In maximising the Board’s effectiveness, we take a long-term, sustainable and measured approach. We believe that all Board appointments should be based on meritocracy and that diversity in all its aspects, including gender diversity, is important.

More broadly within Standard Chartered, our employees represent more than 125 nationalities and 45 per cent are female. We believe that diversity, including gender diversity, is a very important factor impacting the Group’s performance and wider organisational effectiveness.

Sir John Peace, Chairman