The Financial Services Corporate Responsibility Group, is Chaired by David Allcock of HSBC Supply Management and meets on a quarterly basis, receiving regular contributions from almost 30 key FS organisations and making use of teleconferencing and a video-conference link between locations to minimise travel. 

As part of its development the group consults widely with external organisations which have links to Financial Service (FS) organisations, one of these is 'Heart of the City'. Heart of the City's mission is to help educate businesses in the City and City fringes in Corporate Responsibility (CR) activities. It also provides a forum for businesses to learn from one another and mentoring programmes which connect those firms with experience to firms with little knowledge. Heart of the City also offers firms advice on how to develop voluntary and socially responsible programmes in the community. This is achieved through a programme of support for businesses wanting to develop or expand their existing CR programme and this could include one-to-one guidance from an experienced Manager within the FSCR Group and a Heart of the City corporate partner. 

One example of this has been the interaction between HSBC and Lehmann Communications, a marketing communications agency based in Lloyd's Avenue in the heart of the financial services district. Lehmann Communications provides services within the public relations, design, crisis communications, event management and media training sectors to corporate, financial, professional services, consumer and luxury branded organisations. 

During the last 12 months Sarah-Jane Sherwood, Business Development Director at Lehmann Communications, has been reviewing and developing the firm's corporate policy structure. A key element of this has been their approach to Sustainability. Following engagement with Heart of the City, Sarah-Jane was introduced to David Allcock at HSBC. From here the two organisations have shared time and ideas, culminating in the publication of Lehmann Communications' first Sustainability Policy. For Sarah-Jane, this also led to a greater enthusiasm for the firm's impact on sustainability and, as a result, she has developed a programme of sustainability for social enterprises which she plans to launch this year, in collaboration with 'Clearly So', the first online marketplace for social business and enterprise, commerce and investment.

Sarah-Jane commented "In this market, sustainability is a crucial area which needs to be addressed. David has helped us to understand not only what is expected but also what we are capable of. This is an incredibly exciting time for our firm and our market and we are grateful to David and HSBC for guiding us and igniting the initial flame which sparked a brighter and broader horizon."

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