"SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy": Standard Chartered's Tim Hinton

Hinton, Standard Chartered's new global head for SME banking, aims to put greater focus on developing and rewarding staff while giving customers superior service.

Name: Tim Hinton
Bank: Standard Chartered Bank
Job Title: Global Head, SME Banking
Age: 47

ABF: What makes you excited about your new position?

SMEs are the lifeblood of the economy – significant contributors to GDP, employment and economic growth. They also tend to grow much faster than other corporate segments. SME is a major focus area and opportunity for the bank and perfectly aligned to our brand promise to be 'here for good.'

ABF: What three goals are you focused on?

• To become the best SME Bank in our chosen markets and accelerate our growth and progress of the last few years
• Greater focus on customers and all of their needs, and delivering them through superior service
• Greater focus on our staff, developing them, rewarding them and giving them a great career at SCB

ABF: What will you do differently in this position / what changes are you planning?

We need to become the main bank or core bank to more of our clients. We need to be relevant to them and much bolder in our approach. We need to keep focusing on service – both quality and speed – and deepen relationships. Our basic strategy is in place and excellent – but we need to improve our execution and the pace.

ABF: What are your key business philosophies?

• Aim high and you will achieve more
• Aim to be the best at what you do and always know what others are doing to challenge that position
• Listen to your customers and staff at all levels and learn from them
• Be completely honest, straight and clear both with customers and staff

ABF: What previous positions prepared you for this one and how?

I was with SCB for 25 years now, mainly in Asia, so I have good first-hand knowledge of all of our key markets (HK, China, SG, India, UAE, Korea etc). I was RM and Team Leader to both SMEs and Corporates for about 20 years of my career. I was also global head of our Local Corporates client segment in WB for 5 years from 2005-10 – a period of major growth and transformation.

ABF: Anything else you'd like to add?

I’ve had a long career with the same institution and have enjoyed it enormously. But you need to manage your career and most of us want variety and change as well as progression. I would encourage everyone to look for that variety and change at SCB first. You don’t need to move bank or company to get variety and growth – especially in a bank as diverse and dynamic as SCB.

The opportunities at SCB are vast. If you like growing businesses and seizing opportunities, this is the place to work and, for clients, the bank to trust.