A responsible approach

We take a long-term perspective and treat society and the world around us with respect.

Our ambition is to be the leading responsible bank for client service and expertise. We’re committed to promoting diversity, supporting our communities, reducing our environmental impact and helping you manage your finances sustainably.

What does it mean to be a leading responsible private bank? Being responsible means we partner with clients to help them build sustainable legacies. We collaborate with colleagues by promoting diversity and inclusion. We engage with our community by supporting charity partners, and we protect our climate by reducing carbon emissions. 

Building sustainable legacies

Building sustainable legacies

You have the power to change the world with the choices you make about your wealth. The right decisions will create solid financial foundations for your own family and others that can last well into the future.

We’re helping our clients organise and structure their wealth with a view to building sustainable legacies.

When you make the right decisions, you create solid financial foundations for your family.

Preparing younger generations for the responsibilities of wealth through financial education and training.

Supporting philanthropy by helping clients give effectively to the causes they care about.

Empowering women with the knowledge and confidence to prosper, in collaboration with the WealthiHer Network.

Incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors throughout our investment process.

Actively engaging with the companies and funds we invest in to encourage positive change.

Excluding controversial sectors, for example tobacco and adult entertainment, across our managed portfolios.

Supporting our colleagues

We support our colleagues so everyone knows they have a voice.

Supporting our colleagues

Companies that value diversity and collaboration tend to outperform others. When you bring people together with different backgrounds and experiences, they offer fresh perspectives and innovative ways of working, which in turn boosts creativity and productivity.

As well as ensuring our firm is diverse, we know it’s important to support our colleagues so they have the freedom to express their ideas and develop new solutions. At SG Kleinwort Hambros, our culture encourages all employees to use their voice to enact positive change.

The ways in which we recruit, develop and reward colleagues promote equality and diversity throughout our organisation.

Providing connection and inclusion through diverse employee networks.

Signing the Women in Finance Charter, a UK-government sponsored initiative to build a more gender balanced financial services industry.

Promoting equality of opportunity through the Kleinwort Hambros Gender Equality Forum.

Widening access to the banking sector through our apprenticeship and internship programmes.

Nurturing young talent through our graduate trainee scheme, as well as our Next Generation Executive Committee.

Providing flexible working practices to support sustainable and healthy lifestyles.

Promoting strong communities

Promoting strong communities

Communities provide the backbone of a healthy society. Often communities are best placed to identify and respond to any challenges they face. We support communities across our jurisdictions through a range of programmes to engender positive change.

We take our responsibilities to our communities seriously and we’ve put in place a range of initiatives to share our expertise with those around us. This includes Societe Generale UK’s flagship Young Influencers Programme, which we’ve designed to equip the next generation of talent with the skills needed to build successful careers.

With 24 hours a year of volunteering time, we encourage all colleagues to share their time, skills and experience to positively impact our local communities. We also provide financial support to our local charity partners.

We’ve put in place a range of initiatives to share our expertise with our communities.

Fighting climate change

We’re all responsible for ensuring a sustainable future by fighting climate change.

Fighting climate change

World temperatures are rising because of human activity, and climate change threatens many aspects of our lives. Left unchecked, our environment will suffer catastrophic warming, with worsening droughts, greater sea level rise and mass extinction of species. We face a huge challenge but there are solutions.

We believe we are all responsible for ensuring a sustainable future, both personally as individuals and collectively as a business. Our contributions to fighting climate changes include the following:

Our Responsible Investment Committee continues to build our ESG credentials, placing responsibility at the core of our investment strategies.

We are proud signatories of the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

We are members of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF).

Our parent company Societe Generale is a founding member of the United Nations Environment Programme Financing Initiative (UNEP FI) Net-Zero Banking Alliance.

Our UK headquarters have been certified as one of the most sustainable buildings in London by BREEAM.

Responsibility report

2022 Responsibility Report