Standard Chartered's New Slogan: `Good Enough' Ain't Enough

(Bloomberg) -- Standard Chartered Plc is preparing a new ad campaign as part of a drive to reinvigorate its brand under the slogan “Good enough will never change the world,” people familiar with the project said.

The multimedia campaign is scheduled to be rolled out across the Asia-focused bank's most important markets later this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan is private. The lender's longstanding motto “here for good” -- which is intended to convey both longevity and social responsibility -- won't change, one of the people said.

Chief Executive Officer Bill Winters, who's now in his third year in charge, also wants to improve the bank's sustainable and green credentials as part of his legacy, the people said. That may include commitments to cut financing of the most polluting fossil fuels and to back more environmentally friendly projects and companies, one of the people said.

A spokesman for Standard Chartered declined to comment.

Refreshing the brand is an attempt to draw a line under the tumultuous period Standard Chartered has endured since 2012. The bank was caught breaching sanctions by secretly doing business with Iran, lax lending practices leaving it saddled with billions of bad loans, and a toxic culture was discovered among senior managers who considered themselves “above the law.”

There are signs the bank is on the right path, even though former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive Winters, 56, has spent most of his tenure overseeing what he described as “a traumatic amount of change” that has “taken a toll on the psyche” of staff.

Standard Chartered returned to profit in 2017, restarted dividend payments and staunched the flow of bad loans by tightening lending and compliance standards. However, revenue is growing at half the pace executives say is required to hit modest return targets.

Ad agency TBWA is developing the campaign with the bank, one of the people said. The company pledges to “develop a disruptive platform that will help the brand escape conventions and achieve its vision,” according to a promotional video on its website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Morris in London at smorris39@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry

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