Fridae

Standard Chartered in Thailand has launched a range of banking services for people in ‘committed relationships’ regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Standard Chartered explains, “ss a part of our Diversity & Inclusion Agenda, Standard Chartered bank strives to … treat fairly both heterosexual and same sex non-legally married couples indifferently.” 

As part of this agenda, Standard Chartered Thailand have launched We+. This new range of services offers mortgages, insurance, credit cards, and investment services to couples who are not legally married. As part of the launch, we’ve asked some of the questions that you may be pondering:

How does acouple enter a defined partnership (marriage, civil union, etc), as recognised by the bank?

 For legally married couples, they are simply defined as husband or wife, while non legally married couples could define themselves as “Life Partners”. 

Is We+ only available for same-sex couples? If so, how different is it from the services to straight couples?

 We+ aims to target non-legally married couples which means both heterosexual and same-sex couples that we conceptually call “modern couples”. 

What are the "barriers to financial services" that same-sex couples face?

 Co-borrowing mortgages: At present, no other bank (in Thailand) reaches out to non legally married couples.  At Standard Chartered bank (Thai), we do via We+.
Life insurance: Currently, traditional marketing and underwriting process adopted by many insurance companies operating in Thailand don’t allow non-immediate family members to become beneficiaries. Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) works with Prudential Insurance to extend underwriting coverage to ensure personal choices of 3rd party beneficiaries are not limited to this definition.

Some people may regard “alternate lifestyle” as a negative way of describing same-sex relationships. How does Standard Chartered refer to them?

 Standard Chartered bank believes and strives to be an inclusive bank that does not discriminate based on personal lifestyle preferences.  The term “alternate lifestyle” in this context does not intend to single out any particular group of customer segment. On the contrary, it is our intention to communicate to and educate wider audiences who may not have previously been exposed to or familiar with modern couples leading lifestyles not bound by the local law i.e. marriage registration.  Ultimately it is the bank’s goal to increase financial access to all couples whether they be heterosexual, homosexual, legally registered according to local law or non-registered. 

Where can we find more information?

Information about We+ can be found at https://www.sc.com/th/promotions/we-plus/en/   On those pages, there will be related financial products for We+.  For more information and application, customers/readers can direct to our branch network especially dedicated two branches at Central World branch and Thonglor branch.