HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd (滙豐台灣商銀) has ranked first among the foreign banks at CommonWealth Magazine’s Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Awards this year, given its outstanding performance in corporate commitment, social participation and environmental protection, the bank said.
HSBC has been in the top four in the foreign enterprise group for 12 years since 2011 and jumped to the top position this year. This indicates the bank’s pivotal role among foreign enterprises in Taiwan in fulfilling its corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment.
The bank’s outstanding performance in addressing environmental, social and employee matters was key to winning this year’s top award, the magazine said.
Photo courtesy of HSBC Bank (Taiwan) Ltd
In particular, HSBC’s long-term environmental investment shows that it is committed to local communities, and it had spent NT$160 million (US$5.18 million) in helping preserve Taipei’s Guandu Nature Park (關渡自然公園) as of the end of last year, it added.
“CommonWealth Magazine’s Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility Awards are the most authoritative and competitive CSR awards in Taiwan. HSBC is honored to receive the award this year, and we are very pleased that our long-term efforts in the natural environment have been recognized by the judges and the public,” HSBC Taiwan CEO Adam Chen (陳志堅) said.
“Behind this honor is HSBC’s steady efforts and persistence in actively fulfilling its corporate social responsibility,” Chen said. “One of the important core values of the company is to create a high-quality working environment for employees, and from different aspects — including skills training, diverse career development plans, a transparent global transfer system and work-life balance, among others — to create a flexible and positive working atmosphere for colleagues. So, employee recognition of the company values has grown steadily year by year.”
“HSBC also provides volunteer programs to encourage employees to care for society, and HSBC employees’ and their families’ volunteer work on environmental and social care projects is a key force for us to fulfill our social responsibilities. Looking forward, HSBC will continue to implement the concept of long-term sustainable development in all aspects of corporate management and business development, and become a benchmark enterprise in fulfilling social responsibilities in Taiwan,” Chen said.
HSBC said it has been a leader in encouraging employees to participate in ecological conservation, and to make active contributions to environmental protection and local communities. The bank’s volunteers have visited Taipei’s Guandu Nature Park regularly over the past 20 years to help restore wetland plants and maintain its environment, the bank said.
Volunteer efforts have made the park home to nearly 950 species of creatures, providing a healthy environment for wetland wildlife and acting as one of the lungs of the greater Taipei area, it said.
Such activities are important to ecological conservation and environmental education, it added.
Facing the risks brought by climate change, HSBC has responded with environmental protection activities such as Earth Hour, World Environment Day and Climate Action Day. The bank also provides tips for energy conservation and carbon reduction, and works with customers to invest in green energy projects toward the goal of net-zero carbon emissions, it said.
HSBC also promotes cultural diversity and inclusiveness, focusing on gender equality and empowering minorities, the bank said.
Of HSBC Taiwan’s middle and senior management, more than 60 percent are women, higher than HSBC’s global average, it said.
HSBC supports diversity by extending benefits to same-sex couples and adoptive families, and has done so since long before the implementation of Taiwan’s same-sex marriage law. The bank has created a friendly work environment and culture through internal sharing and training. HSBC also attends the Taiwan LGBT Pride parade every year, it said.
HSBC responds to social issues by cooperating with charity groups, and strives to eliminate prejudice and stereotypes against women and ethnic groups. HSBC has also launched the Future Skills Training Program to cultivate the abilities of rural young people in areas such as financial management and technology, it added.
In response to global uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, HSBC has incorporated sustainable performance into one of the bank’s overall operational goals, and has established a supervisory conference to draft a blueprint for environmental and social development, the bank said.
HSBC managers and senior executives regularly track ESG trends, strategies and goals, and make continuous improvements in energy conservation, carbon reduction, resource conservation, sustainable finance and employees’ ESG awareness, it said.
HSBC also pays attention to green industry trends and voluntarily signed the Equator Principles to support sustainable finance. The bank also provides renewable energy financial services such as solar power plant financing and offshore wind power project financing.
It also offers corporate and personal services in green financial products. The bank has also assisted in the development of diversified financial products such as green bonds, green deposits, green guarantees, sustainability-linked loans, green mortgages and ESG funds, enabling the bank to achieve further sustainable development goals.
TECH SECURITY: The deal assures that ‘some of the most sought-after technology on the planet’ returns to the US, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said The administration of US President Joe Biden finalized its CHIPS Act incentive awards for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), marking a major milestone for a program meant to bring semiconductor production back to US soil. TSMC would get US$6.6 billion in grants as part of the contract, the US Department of Commerce said in a statement yesterday. Though the amount was disclosed earlier this year as part of a preliminary agreement, the deal is now legally binding — making it the first major CHIPS Act award to reach this stage. The chipmaker, which is also taking up to US$5 billion
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
TRADE WAR: Tariffs should also apply to any goods that pass through the new Beijing-funded port in Chancay, Peru, an adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump said A veteran adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump is proposing that the 60 percent tariffs that Trump vowed to impose on Chinese goods also apply to goods from any country that pass through a new port that Beijing has built in Peru. The duties should apply to goods from China or countries in South America that pass through the new deep-water port Chancay, a town 60km north of Lima, said Mauricio Claver-Carone, an adviser to the Trump transition team who served as senior director for the western hemisphere on the White House National Security Council in his first administration. “Any product going
CARBON REDUCTION: ‘As a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, we recognize our mission in environmental protection,’ TSMC executive Y.P. Chyn said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday launched its first zero-waste center in Taichung to repurpose major manufacturing waste, which translates into savings of NT$1.5 billion (US$46 million) in environmental costs a year. The environmental cost savings include a carbon reduction benefit of 40,000 tonnes, equivalent to the carbon offset of over 110 Daan Forest Parks, the chipmaker said. The Taichung Zero Waste Manufacturing Center is part of the chipmaker’s greater efforts to reach its net zero emissions goal in 2050, aligning with the UN’s 12th Sustainable Development Goal. The center could reduce TSMC’s outsourced waste processing
RSS