Anti-bribery and corruption | Standard Chartered

Fighting financial crime

Anti-bribery and corruption

Our partnerships help us find innovative ways to fight back against bribery and corruption.

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A zero-tolerance approach

At Standard Chartered we adopt to a zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption and will not tolerate the giving, offering, promise or receipt of bribes in any form. We work with banks, governments and regulators around the world to raise the bar across the industry and devise innovative ways to stop criminals in their tracks.

Corruption remains one of the biggest issues facing today’s society.

Andrew Clifford

Global Head, ABC Policy and Framework

About anti-bribery and corruption

What are bribery and corruption?

A bribe is when someone gives a benefit to someone else to influence that person’s relevant function or activity. Corruption is when someone takes improper advantage of their position to make a gain for themselves.

Bribery and corruption are illegal, dishonest and extremely damaging to the markets and communities where they take place.

What counts as a bribe?

A bribe is not always a cash payment and can include both tangible and intangible items such as improper gifts, entertainment, charitable contributions, sponsorships, donations or offers of employment. Offering anything of value as a means of influence can be considered a bribe.

Why is fighting bribery and corruption important?

Bribery and corruption are detrimental to society as they can lead to the diversion of resources away from critical public services and undermine democratic institutions, slow economic development and threaten stable government.

Bribery and corruption represent serious abuses of power where public office and private influence are exploited for personal gain. This erodes trust, distorts fair competition – and the vulnerable in society are the most affected.

What is Standard Chartered doing to fight bribery and corruption?

The fight against bribery and corruption requires more than a policy and standard. Standard Chartered has a Group-wide compliance programme that effectively supports the delivery of the wider Bank strategy and is developed in line with the minimum requirements of the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

To support this, the Group has established clear lines of internal accountability, responsibility and reporting, and cultivates a strong ethical and conduct culture. The tone from the top and tone from the middle has been set with clear values and behaviours expected from all colleagues and third parties.

Through public awareness and community engagement initiatives aligned to international frameworks, we advocate for corruption‑free societies and support collective action to strengthen financial integrity. This includes participating in global campaigns such as United Nations Anti‑Corruption Day, contributing to policy dialogue and outreach with regulators and anti‑corruption bodies, and supporting community‑facing initiatives that raise awareness of ethical conduct and responsible business practices.

Pro-active monitoring

We monitor the conduct of employees, third parties and external events to identify trends, delivering targeted communication and engagement campaigns.

External and internal lessons learnt are also published to raise awareness of expected conduct outcomes in line with our Group Code of Conduct and Ethics and relevant policies.

Working with partners

We tackle bribery and corruption through public-private partnerships, including with UK Finance, the European Alliance Against Illicit Financial Flows, led by the UN Global Compact Network UK, Transparency International, and the Institute of Business and Ethics.

Colleagues review insights together around a laptop.

Leadership view

A crucial moment in a global fight

“Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. There remains limited progress against corruption across the globe. Global order is certainly under strain, with rivalry between superpowers, disregard to international norms, armed conflict and the climate crisis are all having an impact on the global fight against bribery and corruption.”

– Andrew Clifford, Global Head, ABC Policy and Framework

A trustmark outside a Standard Chartered office.

What we do matters

Taking a whole Bank approach helps us protect our clients and the communities we operate in. Through targeted training programmes we ensure that our colleagues are equipped to identify bribery and corruption risk relevant to their roles. We also closely partner with internal teams responsible for Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-linked product development, to ensure their standards have ABC considerations embedded.

A shared responsibility

Bribery and corruption are a global threat, and we can all join in the fight through personal integrity and practical vigilance.

Our clients trust us to enforce a culture of strong ethics, trust, integrity and openness. As part of that, Standard Chartered encourages everybody – colleagues, former colleagues, clients, suppliers and third parties – to raise concerns via our Speaking Up programme. This offers secure, independent and confidential channels to report actual, planned or potential misconduct without fear of retaliation.