The move has sparked debate over banks' real commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), a rapidly growing area of corporate ethics around the world.

According to the US-based Worldwatch Institute, nearly 1,800 transnational corporations or their affiliates filed CSR reports in 2004, up from virtually none in the early 1990s. "While this reflects growing transparency and commitment to social and environmental principles, 97.5 percent of the nearly 70,000 transnational corporations still do not file such reports," said Worldwatch in its Vital Signs 2006-07 report released last week.

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While CSR generally covers corporate policies on such matters as the environment and relationships with "stakeholders" - shareholders, staff, customers and the community - the term itself is open to broad interpretation.

According to the CSR section of HSBC's Web site, the bank says: "We believe long-term success and good corporate behavior are linked. Corporate social responsibility has been a vital ingredient in HSBC's 140 years of success.

"We have always maintained that a company's first social responsibility is to be successful. Success allows us to invest in new products and services for our customers.

"It enables us to pay the dividends which form an important part of the long-term savings and pension plans of our shareholders. It allows us to contribute to public services through the taxes we pay to governments. It creates jobs for our colleagues and suppliers."

HSBC's rival Standard Chartered is not quite as specific in its basic definition.

"Understanding and responding to our customers' needs is fundamental to the way we do business. As social, ethical and environmental issues gain prominence, it is increasingly important that we understand how our customers meet these challenges and how that is affecting the way they work," says Standard Chartered on its Web site.

HSBC Ltd is Hong Kong's largest bank, with profit attributable to shareholders of HK$45.2 billion last year, up from HK$43.5 billion in 2004.

The London-based HSBC Group is one of the world's biggest banks with global profit before tax of HK$163 billion last year.

Hong Kong contributes 21.5 percent of the group's earnings.

Standard Chartered operates in 56 countries and worldwide 2005 pre-tax profit was US$2.68 billion (HK$20.9 billion, including a US$1.51 billion record profit from Hong Kong), up 19 percent from US$2.25 billion in 2004. It has 70 branches in Hong Kong.

WINNIE CHONG