Corporate Sustainability2011 First Half Report

www.hsbc.com.bd

Education | Environment | Community | Culture

Overview

CS Expenditure: 2011 First Half

Cul t ur e and ot her s

25%

E ducat i on

29%

E nvi r onment

46%

Throughout the first half of 2011, HSBC Bangladesh has continued its endeavours to ensure sustainability in all its operations in Bangladesh.

Overall, 312 employees enthusiastically took part in various CS activities, dedicating a total of 5008 volunteer work-hours.

While following the Group’s sustainability guidelines about focusing on education, environment and providing donations to disadvantaged people in society, HSBC Bangladesh has also put strong emphasis on community and culture.

HSBC Bangladesh actively engaged itself to contribute to social welfare through financial assistance, putting in volunteer work-hours or logistical support across a wide range of community projects.

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Contents

Education Environment

Helping the Disadvantaged

Culture

HSBC Young Entrepreneurs award 2011 4

HSBC – Prothom Alo Language Competition 2011 5

Fund and Support to Children's in HASAB 5

HSBC observes World Environment Day 6

Aid to CDC 10

HSBC - Kali o Kolom Young Poet and Writers award 2011 8

Celebrating Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary 9

Sponsoring “Art of Tagore Songs” publication 9

Winter Cloth Distribution 10

Donating Computer to NGO’s 10

Tube-well to provide Arsenic free drinking water in Jessore 10

Laoachora Interior exhibition wall decoration 7

Setting Rainwater Harvesting Plant in VNC 6

School of Hope Relocation 10

Global Initiative

CS initiatives in HSBC India, Indonesia and others 11

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Education

The HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards 2010-11

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Limited in Bangladesh organised the Young Entrepreneur Award (YEA) 2011, a business plan competition for undergraduate students for the fifth time in Bangladesh. With the aim to promote creativity and innovation, this competition sharpens the business knowledge of young students beyond their borders. Launched on 19 January 2011 this year, YEA 2011 Bangladesh finale was held on 26 April 2011. Team Stalwarts won the local finale topping the initial 281 submission, 30 reports and 7 presentations.

The team consisted of Upoma Dutta, Shehreen Kamal and Nusrat Sharmin Moutusi – all students of IBA, University of Dhaka. The winning team along with the runners-up went to have an entrepreneurial tour to the Hong Kong SAR.

The regional finale took place on 20 June 2011 where the local team won the prestigious Diamond awards as well as a prize money of HKD40,000 for its ‘CocoCrete’ project, which aims to supply high-strength, ready-mixed concrete using coir fibres from discarded coconut husks as reinforcement to make buildings more resistant to earthquakes.

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Education

HSBC, through its global flagship education fund “Future First”, assisted the SCUP project HASAB which aims to offer vocational training to 15 adolescents and gives education and scholarships to 200 children’s of AIDS patients and sex workers. Recently, the project was launched in both Gazipur and Mymensingh where HSBC Bangladesh provided education materials to 80 children and also education allowance to 8 others.

HSBC - Prothom Alo Language Competition 2011

To enhance the love for our mother tongue among students from an early age, HSBC Bangladesh sponsored the HSBC- Prothom Alo Language Competition for the seventh consecutive year in Bangladesh. This year’s competition was launched on 18 February 2011, and altogether 9 regional competitions were held. Each of the regional competitions saw massive participation of around 800 students, whereas, the regional event in Dhaka was attended by 1200 students. The competition was held in 4 categories, including primary school, high school and college level students. A large number of HSBC staff members showed their enthusiasm despite the long travel distance by volunteering in the whole-day event . The final competition and award giving ceremony was held at Dhaka which was attended by a total of 496 students. A total of 20 students from each category were awarded. The event ended with a vow to preserve and promote our mother language in its correct and beautiful form.

Giving Future First fund and education materials to HASAB

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Environment

World Environment Day

HSBC Bangladesh celebrated the World Environment Day on 6 June 2011. As commemoration of the day, over 20 staff members went to one of the country’s most prominent schools - Viquarunnessa Noon School and College, and planted over 50 types of medicinal, herbal and floral plants. The saplings were collected from Green World.

HSBC Bangladesh observed the day in office too where male staff members wore green ties and female colleagues wore green sarees. Over 1000 free saplings were distributed among staff members in the Management Office, Dhaka Main Office and Gulshan Branch.

Furthermore, an environment-related quiz which gauges the knowledge and awareness level of employees was uploaded on the Staff intranet - Banglanet. 35 people participated and 3 winners who answered the questions correctly won a great opportunity to visit and plant trees in Hakaluki Haor – a national wetland preserve.

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Environment

Lawachara Eco-park Sponsorship

To facilitate natural forestry preservation, HSBC Bangladesh became the sole sponsor of the interior decoration of the exhibition hall of Lawachara eco-park - one of the major national reserves in Bangladesh and the only local rainforest. This forest consists of 460 species including 167 plant species, 4 amphibian species, 6 reptile species, 246 bird species and 20 mammal species and is situated in Moulvibazaar, Bangladesh. 8 kilometres east from Srimongal town, this 1,250 -hectre forest is one of the most beautiful tropical forests in the region. Lawachara is also called a Bird Safari for the abundance of different species of birds found in the range.

Rainwater Harvesting Project

With an aim to provide safe drinking water and ensure optimum usage of rainwater, HSBC Bangladesh installed two rainwater harvesting plants in two schools in Dhaka city namely Banani Bidyaniketon and Viquarunnessa Noon School and College. The plants will provide pure drinking water to over 3000 students.

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Culture

The HSBC - Kali O Kalam Young Poet and Writer Awards 2010

The HSBC - Kali O Kalam Young Poets and Writer Awards 2010 was announced at the main auditorium of the National Museum on 22 April 2011. Monthly literary magazine 'Kali O Kalam‘, in partnership with HSBC, initiated the Award in 2008. This year, young writers received awards in four categories: poetry, literature, research and essay.

The chief guest - Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Dipu Moni - handed over the awards to the recipients. Eminent educationist Professor Zillur Rahman Siddiqui was the special guest at the programme. Bani Basu, leading Bengali writer from India, also present as special guest, admired the initiative by Kali O Kolom and HSBC The winners for the year 2010 were: Tokon Thakur (Poetry); Kazi Rafi (Literature); Proshanto Mrida (Essay) and Apurbo Sharma (Research). Each winner received BDT 100,000 along with a certificate and a crest.

Abul Hasnat, Editor of Kali O Kolom, delivered the concluding speech. Mr Hasnat said, “The writers have been selected for this award in recognition of their contribution towards contemporary literature. They are constantly searching for new ideas and novel themes. I believe that the award will encourage individual thinking in their respective fields.” Mr Sanjay Prakash, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC, also addressed the programme.

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Culture

Celebrating Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary

HSBC Bangladesh organised a special event commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of the biggest icon of Bangla culture and literature – Rabindranath Tagore. The event included unveiling the cover of a research work on Tagore’s songs by Dr Karunamaya Goswami and the rendition of Tagore songs by Bengali artists from Bangladesh and India.

Minister for Information and Cultural Affairs – Mr Abul Kalam Azad, Former Chief Justice – Mr Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Foreign Secretary – Mr Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, Publisher of the book – Mr Mofidul Islam and the researcher Dr Karunamaya Goswami spoke at the event. Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bangladesh – Mr Sanjay Prakash and Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC Bangladesh – Mr Md Mahbub-ur-Rahman also spoke at the occasion.

The event concluded with the rendition of Tagore songs by Aditi Mohsin, Mita Hoque and Srikanata Acharya.

Art Of Tagore Songs

As part of its continuous commitment to local culture and heritage, HSBC Bangladesh paid tribute to Noble laureate Rabindronath Tagore on his 150th birth Anniversary by sponsoring a research and publication of a book titled “The Art of Tagore Songs” written by renowned researcher Dr Karunamaya Goswami. Over 1,000 books were printed and have been distributed as courtesy copies to cultural personalities, universities, cultural academies, libraries and galleries across the country.

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Aiding CDC in Chittagong:

HSBC Bangladesh donated BDT 375,000 to the Centre for Disabled Concern (CDC), a non-profit NGO in Chittagong. Using the fund, CDC bought a four-stroke CNG taxi which will be used to provide transport services for disabled children – by carrying them between the shelter and hospital for medical check-ups.

Helping the Disadvantaged

Winter Cloth Distribution

To provide warmth to the poor in the cold nights of January, all branches in HSBC collected warm clothing items and also purchased blankets with money donated by staff. After collating the collection in the Main Office, many staff members enthusiastically participated as volunteers and helped distributing items among street people in Dhaka and Chittagong.

Arsenic Remedy in Jessore

Following the setup of two tube-wells in the Jessore district – an arsenic-affected area of the country – HSBC Bangladesh provided BDT 125,000 to setup 15 new arsenic-free deep tube-wells and thus provide pure drinking water to some 30,000 villagers.

Donating Computers to Disabled People

This year, HSBC Bangladesh donated a total of 6 desktop PCs and 4 laptops to 3 NGOs to aid the learning and training of disabled children. SSDP recieved 2 Laptops and 4 Desktop PCs; Samannito Janakalyan Kendro (SJK) was given 1 Laptop and 1 Desktop PC; and the Scholars Special School was provided 1 Laptop and 1 Desktop as well. This will support the attempts by these organisations to turn disabled people into assets for the country.

School of Hope

HSBC Bangladesh, through its resources and volunteer-work-hours, assisted the relocation of School of Hope from its previous premise. Furthermore, the Bank’s employees also took part in School of Hope’s annual fun day which was celebrated at International School, Dhaka, on 14 May 2011.

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Global Initiatives

Earth Hour 2011

HSBC colleagues around the world switched off their lights on 26 March for WWF's Earth Hour 2011. Earth Hour is an annual campaign led by WWF that calls for individuals and businesses to switch off their lights for one hour to help raise awareness of the over-consumption of the world's resources. HSBC offices in 59 countries were dimmed, some into almost total darkness, as non-essential lights were switched off for one hour.

Images of HSBC’s building in Hong Kong were published by the UK-based newspaper, The Guardian, as part of a series of Earth Hour photos of landmarks from around the world.

The HSBC India BirdRaces

The HSBC India BirdRaces is an event where beginners at bird watching team up with an expert and go bird-spotting, recording as many species as possible. The teams get a chance to interact with others and recount their day's experiences at an evening awards ceremony and dinner held on the same day. It took place in Ahmedabad.

HSBC Water Warrior in Indonesia

Employees in Indonesia volunteered in HSBC Corporate Sustainability Water Warrior Programme that was held on 5 June 2011. For one day, they were given experiences on water quality research, everything from taking samples, observing samples, and presenting their findings on the water quality of Kali Pesanggrahan, an endangered but legendary river to Jakartans.

“It is an exciting experience being a water warrior participant!” said one volunteer, Iis Fatmawati from RBWM-Business Analytic Department. Besides doing water research, participants were also asked to plant trees to mark their contribution to the environment. The result from this Water Warrior research was presented to the government of Jakarta, as a gift, for the city’s anniversary that falls on 26 June.

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Contact:

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited

Management Office:

Level 4, Shanta Western Tower, 186 Bir Uttam Mir

Shawkat Ali Road (Tejgaon-Gulshan Link Road),

Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka 1208, Bangladesh

Tell: 880 2 8814460

Fax: 880 2 8813905

A pdf version of this report is available at

http://www.hsbc.com.bd/1/2/cs

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