Standard Chartered Bank

NOMINATOR COMMENTS

Standard Chartered Bank U.S., part of the international banking group Standard Chartered and recent recipient of Great Place to Work Certification for the fifth consecutive year, provides its employees with a best-in-class total compensation package, including its Employees Capital Accumulation 401(k) plan. The bank’s focus on the financial well-being of its staff drives many of its efforts.

The plan’s participation rate is well above the average of 85% for plans recordkept by Vanguard. The plan boasts an average account balance of $214,000 across its participants—60% more than the average of $134,000 for Vanguard participants. This is greatly due to the average 12% elective deferral rate. New employees are automatically enrolled. By way of its discretionary contributions, the bank saves for individuals unable to save. Participants can choose from among 34 investment options, plus opportunities within a self-directed brokerage account.

Kelsey MacKnight (left) and Maria Gonzalez (right)
Photograph by Matt Kalinowski

PLANSPONSOR: How would you describe your company? Is there anything unique about it or its demographics?

Standard Chartered Bank: Standard Chartered Bank is a leading international banking group with a presence in 52 of the world’s most dynamic markets. Our history in the U.S. dates back to 1902, and we are currently present in six locations around the country. We’re proud of the strong and diverse talent pool of colleagues that make up Standard Chartered Bank U.S.; 120 nationalities are represented. It’s this kind of diversity that helps us understand local markets, challenge preconceptions and deliver true value to our clients.

PLANSPONSOR: What are you most proud of in relation to your retirement plan offering?

Standard Chartered Bank: We’re most proud to offer a retirement plan to meet our colleagues at every stage of their journey, not just life after work. Our plan is intentionally designed to be both generous and adaptable. From day one of employment, it provides immediate value and continues to evolve with colleagues’ needs, whether the person is navigating financial goals, an unexpected life event or planning for long-term security. Ultimately, our goal is to meet colleagues where they are and ensure that our retirement benefit isn’t just something they think about at the end of their career but can rely on throughout their working life as well.

PLANSPONSOR: Please cite any noteworthy initiatives you have taken in the past 24 to 36 months that have produced results to improve your plan, and describe the results.

Standard Chartered Bank: We are dedicated to the long-term financial well-being and retirement readiness of our colleagues and continually assess and enhance our retirement benefit offerings to ensure they’re aligned to the evolving needs of our workforce.

Thus, within the past few years, our goals have focused on enhancing support for working parents; expanding investment choices for plan participants—particularly relating to diversity, equity and inclusion, and environmental, social and governance—while maintaining competitive costs; and identifying opportunities for participants to save more toward retirement.

To achieve these goals we, for example: added qualified birth or adoption distributions to the plan to support new parents; added 529 education savings plans for colleagues’ dependents, with a waived minimum contribution amount; added personal advisory services, which provide ongoing financial planning and portfolio management for participants; added ESG funds to our fund lineup; identified lower-share-class opportunities for three funds in our 401(k) plan while still maintaining the same underlying fund structure; and more.

We introduced additional opportunities to increase savings. Our pension committee voted to adopt higher catch-up contributions for participants ages 60 through 63, one of the SECURE 2.0 optional provisions. We expanded eligibility for our annual voluntary deferred compensation plan, resulting in a 31% increase year-on-year in participation. And we added employer-funded health savings accounts, with an annual employer contribution of $360, employee-only coverage, and $1,440, all other coverage levels.

PLANSPONSOR: Please explain the ongoing governance efforts of those involved with the plan meant to ensure its compliance and effective operation.

Standard Chartered Bank: We’ve developed a robust internal framework to ensure effective operations and compliance with administration of our retirement plan.

Internally, we have two committees: the Americas pension committee (for plan administration) and the investment committee. These are made up of key stakeholders from across various business functions (primarily U.S. management team members), as well as human resources representatives. Both committees meet quarterly.

Annually, we engage a third-party auditor to complete an exhaustive audit of both the 401(k) plan and frozen pension plan. We consistently receive audit results that are positive, with no exceptions noted. In addition, our HR team meets biweekly with our retirement vendors to review any matters of importance, and our internal supply chain team ensures all vendors comply with our risk control framework.

PLANSPONSOR: What does winning Plan Sponsor of the Year mean to you and your employer?

Standard Chartered Bank: This recognition affirms the impact that our efforts have on creating meaningful, competitive and accessible retirement benefits for our colleagues. It’s a celebration of our shared success and the continuous collaboration of our benefits team, plan administrators, and our colleagues who contribute to the ongoing strength of our employee benefit programs.

This year, for our Plan Sponsor of the Year profiles, we are publishing Q&As based on the finalists’ applications and nominator comments. Responses are edited and may be paraphrased. In cases where the finalist self-nominated or, on its application, referred judges to the nomination for the answer, we have attributed those nominator answers to the plan sponsor.