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Our objectives

We are dedicated in community investment through charity, volunteer services, etc., to enable younger generations to reach their full potential by developing their future skills and offering financial literacy. Hang Seng as well emphasises customer centricity and employee well-being to ensure corporate sustainability.

Long-term social impact

Hang Seng has been supporting the development of table tennis in Hong Kong for the past 30 years. 

Over 140 members of the Hong Kong Table Tennis Team and the Hong Kong Table Tennis Youth Team are graduates of the HSTTA, including seven out of ten players of the Hong Kong Table Tennis Team at 2022 World Team Table Tennis Championships, and five out of six core players of the Hong Kong Team at 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Since 2001, the HSTTA has provided training to more than 422,000 students over 7,900 activities.

Key figures

ESG awareness: Published postings covering total 32 ESG topics and conducted interactive ESG mini-quizzes internally which received a total of 1,648 responses (as of December 2022)

Gender diversity: 69% of Board of Directors and 60% of Executive Committee members are female (as of December 2022)

Highlights

Community

Community investment

Hang Seng is committed to contributing to a more prosperous and sustainable future for the communities in which we operate.

Our community investment strategy is underpinned by four pillars:

  1. Future skills
  2. Promoting sustainable finance and financial literacy
  3. Addressing climate change
  4. Caring for the community

As a home-grown financial institution, Hang Seng is also dedicated to caring for the local community. At the time when the community was hit by the fifth wave of COVID-19, the Bank made a donation to arrange outreach programmes and to provide care packs to support people in need.

We believe young people are the future, and we are dedicated to enabling local youths to reach their full potential. In 2022, we expanded the scope of our financial education programmes to cover young people of different ages and backgrounds, including kindergarten children, university students and young parents.

During 2022, we pledged nearly HK$32 million on community investment initiatives, supporting local organisations to organise 16 programmes for over 77,000 direct beneficiaries. We were named a Caring Company for 20 consecutive years.

Over the past 10 years, we have pledged to invest about HK$300 million in community initiatives.

For details of community investment initiatives, please refer to our ESG Report 2022.

Four pillars

Young people play a significant role in the future development of society. We continue to put emphasis on providing future-skills learning opportunities for Hong Kong’s young people to help strengthen their ability to adapt and thrive in a fast-changing environment . This approach aligns with our business strategy of placing focus on supporting younger generations, who are integral to driving greater sustainability.

“I am…” Youth Portal

Hang Seng Youth Career Planning Scheme

Hang Seng - HKFWS Youth Mediation Scheme

Go! GingerOnion

Hang Seng Character Master Programme

Hang Seng – YMCA Balloon Twisting Programme for Special Educational Needs Students

Hang Seng Academic Assistance Programme

Hang Seng - Hong Kong Sports Institute "Community in Action"

Hang Seng Future Skills Fund

As one of the Hong Kong’s leading banks, promoting sustainable finance and financial literacy aligns with our core banking focus. We are eager to provide young people and their families with the tools and knowledge to manage their day-to-day finances and enhance their future financial security.

e$mart Financial Education Programme

Money Master Financial Education Programme

The Money-wise Kids Financial Education Programme

Financial Education Materials

Hang Seng has been an advocate of environmental sustainability for many years. Our commitment to climate action is demonstrated through our support for initiatives such as the Hang Seng Yunnan Low-Carbon Village programme and we will continue to step up efforts in addressing climate change in Hong Kong.

Hang Seng Yunnan Low Carbon Village

Hang Seng - CA Eco-Rangers

Hang Seng Low Carbon Future: SolarCare Programme

Hang Seng Low Carbon Future – Low Carbon Schools

Hang Seng Bank has a rich tradition of acting to fulfil its social commitments as a responsible corporate citizen. We are proud of our long-term contributions to the community and of our active participation in a variety of social services initiatives to assist disadvantaged groups in our society.

Hang Seng Table Tennis Academy

Volunteer services

As a responsible corporate citizen, Hang Seng supports its staff in giving back to their local community. Each employee is entitled to two days of volunteer leave each year, in order to participate in volunteer activities.

Our senior management members have also devoted their time to civic and volunteer activities. For example, the Bank’s Executive Director and Chief Executive, Diana Cesar, is the Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, as well as a Director, Campaign Committee Co-Chairman and Member of Executive Committee of The Community Chest of Hong Kong.

The Hang Seng Volunteer Team comprised of over 350 staff members, partnered with various organisations to support a wide range of volunteering activities, including tree planting and Eco-rangers clean-up activities, the Money-wise Kids Financial Education workshops, and packing goody bags. Our ongoing efforts earned us the Hong Kong Volunteer Award 2022, presented by the Agency for Volunteer Service.

Overview

Our customer-centric service puts strong emphasis on building long-term relationships. Since 1933, our commitment to core values – professionalism, passion, and a prudent but progressive approach – has earned us the trust and loyalty of our customers. 

Customer privacy

Ensuring the privacy of our customers’ personal information and other data is critical. It maintains our reputation for good governance and bolsters the trust that underpins lasting business relationships.

  • We comply with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, have established Privacy Principles and, at our branches, offer privacy to customers who need to discuss sensitive or confidential matters
  • We notify our customers about our collection and use of personal data, classes of transferees, and classes of marketing subjects, their data access and their right to correct personal data
  • In 2022, a training session on the China’s Personal Information Protection Law was held to cover the latest developments in the evolving cross-border data transfer regime, which helped enhance our staff’s understanding of the data privacy policy

Customers’ opt-in rate in 2022.

  • As of the end of 2022, the Wealth and Personal Banking customers’ opt-in rate for customer data used for secondary purposes, e.g. marketing (non-personal banking customers), was 59.6%
  • The Commercial Banking customers’ opt-in rate for marketing, was 90.4%

Customer experience

Digitalisation of Business

  • We launched the e-sign platform to obtain customer signatures on our products and services by electronic means, so that customers do not need to physically visit our branches to provide their signatures for selected services
  • We introduced and provided bereavement reporting and document submission via hangseng.com, to facilitate less branch visits for a better customer experience
  • The revamping of hangseng.com is ongoing, with the aim of supporting mobile-responsive features. Customers can obtain mobile-friendly banking product/service information via their mobile devices anywhere and anytime, which is improving the customer experience and also reducing the necessity for physical materials, e.g. product brochures
  • We launched a new banknote exchange online appointment service via our mobile app and e-banking, which provides flexibility for our customers to make bookings in advance
  • We launched eAppointment for insurance services via hangseng.com to provide flexibility for our Signature and Prestige customers to make appointments online
  • We launched a new queuing feature for the Signature segment under eTicketing service, which enables our Signature customers to obtain an e-Ticket for counter service in advance via our mobile app before visiting branch, so that they can save waiting time at the branch
  • We have further enhanced our Mobile Account Opening service, to accelerate the journey design so that new-to-bank customers can open an account within a shorter period of time. The scope of the service has also been expanded so that more customers, such as integrated account customers, are eligible to open / upgrade an account via the mobile app, anytime and anywhere
  • To further enhance our card repayment experience via the digital channel, we have added a message on top of the page displaying card details to remind the customer to refer to their repayment records in the transaction history following a repayment. In September 2022, we have enabled real-time push notification upon a card repayment with information regarding the amount of Cash Dollars / yuu points earned, the campaign fulfilment and Cash Dollars expiry date extensions, in order to drive the engagement with our mobile app from the card servicing and rewards management perspectives

Building financial literacy

  • We are striving to enhance the financial literacy of our customers and the wider community, in order to empower them to achieve financial security and their wealth management goals. In 2022, we organised investment seminars and webinars for our Signature customers
  • We strive to nurture saving habits among young people and help them plan their finances for the future. Money Master (previously known as Savings Planner) in Hang Seng Personal Banking mobile app helps users achieve their goals gradually by setting up a savings plan and tracking their expenses from Hang Seng Hong Kong Dollar accounts and credit cards. Users can also register for H A R O WhatsApp to receive progress updates and personalised savings tips to better understand their spending pattern, with no data exposure to third parties.

Accessible banking services for all

  • We are committed to providing inclusive financial services to our community. Public housing estates are served by two branches, two mobile branches and 31 ATMs. There are also five branches and 18 ATMs operating at local universities
  • We adopt a barrier-free approach for all our new branches and self-service outlets. Social caring counters at 22 of our branches provide priority service to the elderly, the disabled and other customers in need. Visually impaired customers can bring guide dogs into the bank lobbies of our branches. As part of our partnership with Hong Kong Seeing Eye Dog Services, we also make some of our branches available as HKSEDS training sites
  • Meanwhile, we maintained a number of voice-navigable ATMs for visually impaired customers. In 2022, we have 269 voice-navigable ATMs. Via headphones, customers can use voice navigation to withdraw cash, make enquiries about their balance, transfer funds and change their passwords
  • We also provide audible security tokens to facilitate our visually impaired customers in using our e-banking services

Overview

Our staff are the engine of our success and the primary bridge between our business and the local community. We reward them with competitive compensation and benefits packages, and engage them with supportive and flexible working conditions. Our training and development programmes cultivate professionals who contribute to our success and who understand sustainability in practice.

Equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion

The Bank continues to offer an inclusive environment, in order to foster diversity and become the best workplace for talented individuals. The Bank was ranked 162nd out of the 3,895 global companies included in Equileap’s 2022 Gender Equality Global Report and Ranking. According to Equileap, we were also the only company in Hong Kong that has achieved a gender balance (44%-69% women) at all four levels, including our Board, executive, senior management and workforce.

  • 60 % of Executive Committee members are female.
  • 69 % of Board of Directors are female
  • 44 % of senior leaders are female
  • 58 % of our employees in Hong Kong are female.

44% of our senior leaders are female – a ratio that is well aligned with HSBC’s target of 39% in 2022. The female representation of senior leaders in Hang Seng (including operations in Hong Kong, mainland China, and overseas representative offices) was 46% as of the end of 2022.

An “Inclusion Index” derived from the employee survey measures employee sentiments of inclusion and belonging including aspects of trust with their managers, psychological safety to speak up, fairness in treatment, sense of belonging in the Bank, ability to be themselves and to achieve individual career objectives. Our index which stands at 75% in 2022 is evidence of our strong inclusive culture. We target to sustain our strong Inclusion Index in the coming year.

Training and skills development

To ensure that knowledge, skills and experience of our staff are appropriate for discharging their duties at work, the Bank has implemented a control process called a “Capability Gap Analysis”, where the business/function/Digital Business Services proactively identify the capability requirements in the workforce that are aligned to the strategic goals and business/function objectives. In cases where a training need is identified, our Learning and Talent Development Team will provide support to the individual department in formulating a learning plan with multiple learning solutions (eLearning, in-house/external instructor-led training, etc.), so that our staff members can acquire adequate knowledge and skills to carry out their duties effectively and support their overall performance.

We invest in learning and development, to build and sustain a professional team that will contribute to the success of the Bank. We are committed to deploying staff with sufficient skills, knowledge, professional qualifications, experience and soundness of judgement required for the responsible discharge of their duties. All of our staff undertake mandatory training on ethical standards that include treating their colleagues and customers fairly and with dignity and respect. To leverage our industry knowledge, insights and market practices, we partner with market experts from educational institutions and thought leaders to design and deliver these courses. In 2022, we partnered with the VTC for learning on insurance and investment market trends as well as on the latest regulatory requirements. We developed the "Resilience Training Workshops" with the input of a thought leader on this subject who delivered a series of workshops to equip our bank talents in their adaptability to challenging situations to sustain high performance and wellbeing.

Data Literacy Empowerment Programme

Data Literacy Empowerment Programme ('DLEP') is a bank-wide transformation programme to equip staff with critical future skills in data and analytics and embed cultural transformation in data mindset. DLEP enables our vision to innovate with data in action and become a digital ready Bank. The programme is designed to engage and empower staff to learn and apply data analytics for business and operations. DLEP also focuses on data analytics in risk and control to recognise the importance of data quality, security and privacy to protect customers and bank interest for sustainable business growth.

Data and analytics is also key to engage our young talents and our youths in the community and create social impacts as a part of ESG. Prospective candidates for our 2023 Management Trainee ('MT') programme who engaged in the “Finoland” experience have overwhelmingly voted data and analytics as their top interest area in fintech.

DLEP hosted events and on-site data exhibition for students in order to support youth development. We are planning to provide career talks and site-visits for university students focusing on data and digital skills in banking.

Future skills

We encourage our staff to develop future skills. Through mobile apps with access to the Bank’s portal system, both internal and external learning resources are made available on our web-based learning platform, Degreed. Staff are able to self-assess their learning needs, curate and personalise their learning plans, build networks for peer learning and initiate real-time knowledge transfers and experience sharing. Staff are encouraged to explore their “Focus Four” future skills in personal, data, digital and sustainability skills.

A skill diagnostic tool is available in the Degreed whereby employees can conduct individual skill review to understand their skills level and development areas. According to the review results, the platform provides relevant and personalised learning resources to cater to different learning needs and goals.

Employee well-being

Staff benefits

A variety of staff benefits is provided to employees to suit their personal needs in different stages of life, including different leave types to fulfil work-life balance, parental and family responsibilities, various benefits and offers to achieve personal goals, physical, mental and financial wellness.

Benefits enhancements made during the year include:.

  • Enhance marriage leave from five to six days, and compassionate leave extended to a wider scope of deceased family members being covered
  • Introduce Flex Returns to support employees returning from maternity/ paternity/ parental leave who may start / finish work hours flexibly, or work half days or a shorter week, subject to working a minimum of 20 hours per week for up to two weeks
  • Streamline approval protocol for part-time working, unpaid leave and sabbatical leave applications
  • Enhance medical benefit scheme and services by launching a mobile app, Benefit+ to enhance users experience in claims process, allowing e-claim submission more flexibly, increasing the outpatient e-claim limit and extending the e-claim feature to dependents
  • Introduce Video consultation via Benefit+ with medicine delivery
  • Introduce a new feature, HealthScan+: It is an AI health tracker which elevates digital healthcare with precise and accessible digital diagnostic solutions and help people conveniently monitor their health and stay healthy with a face scan
  • Launch of Total Reward Statement: The statement is available online that summarises the monetary value of benefits offers and enhances employees’ experience and understanding of the value of their total reward package, including fixed pay, variable pay and a wide range of benefits and support being offered

Employee Health and Safety

In 2022, we kept our employees up-to-date work arrangements via staff communication emails. Regular updates on COVID-19-related topics, including medical and mental health advices, were also available on our intranet and mobile staff app.

We organised a webinar with our medical advisor on long COVID in July 2022, in which we answered questions raised by our staff on Omicron and their concerns on its long-term health impact.

The Bank keeps its employees safe via a holistic safety management system supported by a variety of processes, programmes and control measures. The Bank also reviews the control measures from time to time, to ensure their appropriateness in light of the latest developments. These include, for example:

  • Surveillance visits by the certification body of the accredited ISO 45001, with a continuous focus on the issue of COVID-19
  • Risk assessments on our work processes
  • Safety instructions on our work processes
  • Emergency preparedness programme
  • Annual compliance return
  • Health and safety promotion
  • Our medical advisor regularly advises us on the latest COVID-19 developments, followed by the related mitigation measures

Freedom of Association

Hang Seng respects employees’ right to freedom of association and observes local legal frameworks. We consult and listen to their voice through employees’ representatives, focus groups, skip-level or cross-stream exchanges.

By way of example, we encourage employees’ participation and thus openly recruit them to be one of the members of the Retirement Benefit Management Committee. The representatives will be able to contribute their views and ideas on behalf of the retirement plan members, covering areas of investment review, cost management, communication and service providers. They also have the right to vote for the range of investment funds.

During organisational change, we will seek to redeploy employees where appropriate, provide training for re-skilling and career counselling to support their employability and explore opportunities internally or externally.

Occupational Health and Safety


Hang Seng Bank is committed to upholding high standards in Occupational Health and Safety ('OH&S'). We have therefore adopted the international OH&S management system as a backbone to ensure that all stakeholders in business activities and our surrounding community are not exposed to health and safety risks associated with our operations. We are confident and dedicated to achieving the prescribed standards via clear goals and objectives set out in the OH&S Policy, with engagement and support from our employees at all levels.

 

Hang Seng Bank was the first bank in the world to be accredited Occupational Health Safety Assessment System (OHSAS 18001:2007) and subsequently migrated to Occupational Health and Safety Management System (ISO 45001:2018) upon its launch, certified by independent external certification body.

 

We are targeted and committed to keeping a low rate of accidents, and we comply with the OH&S-related legal requirements. A variety of bank-wide campaigns for the enhancement of OH&S are also planned and implemented.

 

A Safety Management Committee, comprising of senior management representatives, monitors and advises us on our OH&S programmes. The concerns and views of our staff are presented by a working team of middle management representatives. They are supported by our job hazards analysis ('JHA') team members.

 

Risk assessments are undertaken by the JHA team at least once every six months. If there are any changes or proposed changes – including the use of equipment and materials, special or temporary activities or renovations, or actions undertaken after incidents – the existing analysis and assessment are reviewed as soon as possible. When a workplace hazard is identified, control measures are made available according to the risk rating, so as to maintain the residual risk at an acceptable level.

 

Staff members are encouraged to alert their department’s JHA representatives to any hazards or potential hazards. These may include improper handling, “slip, trip and fall” risks and loose-lying cables. Actions are taken to mitigate these risks.

 

Our contingency plan for communicable diseases sets out the key issues and required actions in the event of a serious disease outbreak. Our intranet features information on the importance of personal hygiene and good health practices, and on the contingency measures that will enable us to continue serving the community during emergencies.

 

Hang Seng is dedicated to complying with the OH&S-related laws and regulations, including but not limited to the Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (Cap. 509).

In 2022, we provided 3,625 hours of health and safety training to relevant staff members.

Progress update

Social highlights in 2022:

  • Pledged nearly HK$32 million on community investments, supporting local organisations to organise 16 programmes for over 77,000 direct beneficiaries
  • Invested non-financial resources and contributed close to 10,728 hours of volunteer time, professional expertise and practical support to further enhance our social and environmental impact
  • Donated second-hand laptops to the local community with total in-kind donations amounted to around HK$1.6 million
  • Disclosed gender pay gap (fixed pay gap and total compensation gap)
  • QR code was added for our customers to access our online card activation journeys by the revamp of our card sticker
  • Held 380 staff programmes and activities with 16,000 overall participations
  • Provided 249 university students with internship opportunities

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