Tracy Wong Harris – Ask yourself the question – What is your purpose in life?

Tracy Wong Harris, Head of Sustainable Finance Asia tells us what's important to her and how she got into Banking

I knew I wanted to be working with money since age of 12. I was exchanging currencies (HKD vs GBP) in my local bank (with my parents of course) since that age. I completed my undergraduate degree (BA) and Master (MSc) in International Finance and Capital markets and started my first job in Banking, the rest is history! I did a full interview here all about my journey into Sustainable Finance if you'd like to know more: https://www.localhood.or

I really enjoy being able to align my personal values with my work. To be able to leverage my financial skillset, as well as working for a company that cares about the environment and sustainability is a dream come true. Being the Sustainable Finance Head in Asia in Standard Chartered has provided me the platform to do exactly that.

My most memorable moment at the bank is when I received a call from Bill Winter, a few months in after joined the bank. He called to introduce himself and check in with me, I was so surprised to receive the call and very impressed with Bill’s leadership in making such call to me and it also showed me how much the bank focuses and cares about Sustainable Finance.

Driving Sustainable Finance is the right thing to do and that’s what I do every day, in order to truly scale we must work together and collaborate both inside and outside the bank. I would never settle for getting us towards the US$1bn SF revenue aspiration.

I knew I wanted to be working with money since age of 12.

Milestone 1

My earlier career was built over 3 major crises – 1) the credit crisis, when I was hired by JPM to risk manage the Bear Stearns securitisation portfolio in 2008 after the collapsed of Bear Stearns; 2) “London Whale” incident, where I was asked to be the Head of Asia CIO Office in valuation to reprice the 14 countries balance sheets when the regulator took a spot light in JPM’s cheif investment office; 3) Recovery Resolution – JPM amongst 4 other large US banks failed the RR submission in 2016 and resulting in another crisis, I helped to build a trapped liquidity framework and formed part of the resubmission.

Milestone 2

I took the opportunity to work with Dr Ma Jun to build out the Hong Kong Green Finance Association, working closely with Governments, regulators and the industries to position HK to be the green and sustainable finance hub for the region.

Milestone 3

I spent last year building out sustainable finance for Greater China North Asia where I was able to triple the budget and building out the team from no one the ground coverage to now 3 people in HK and 2 in China.

My mandate continues to expand, covering the whole of Asia in 2022.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I don’t get much free time working within a demanding field, however being a mother of a 7 year-old son, with aging parents needing my care and volunteering on 2 NGOs – HK Green Finance Association and AIDS Concerns.

When I do get time block myself a ME DAY to spend a day by myself, often in my favourite spa to reenergize!

Is there anything people don’t know about you?

I like extreme sports. I've done a sky dive, white water rafting and a bungy jump. I love skiing with my family, my son and my husband, and we recently started dirt biking in Hong Kong.

Are there any skills you’re trying to learn?

The more you know, the more you don’t know. With the fast-changing sustainable finance landscape and the need to grow my team, I am constantly pushing myself to learn more. I like to be in front of some of the burning topics including scale up voluntary carbon market, common ground taxonomy adoption and how to leverage fintech to scale up sustainable finance.

Tracy Wong Harris – Ask yourself the question – What is your purpose in life?

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