Tammy Medard, CEO for ANZ Bank (LAO) interview with David Nelson at Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative (NYSE)

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tammy listed by Fortune Magazine as one of the most powerful Next Gen. Women
• U.N. Women’s Empowerment Principles promote gender equality 
• Working in Southeast Asia, Tammy’s program encourages & educates women on STEM

FULL COVERAGE

• Watch complete coverage of the UNCTAD Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS: Tammy Medard, CEO for ANZ Bank (LAO) and David Nelson

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show:00:00

Welcome back. I’m David Nelson for the Traders Network Show broadcasting worldwide from the New York Stock Exchange for iHeart Radio and Equities.com. We’re here for an event being hosted by the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiatives. My next guest is Tammy Medard, the CEO of ANZ Bank LAO. Tammy, welcome. Thanks, so much for being with us.

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 00:23

Thank you for having me.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show:00:24

Tammy, you’re the CEO of one of the largest banks in the region, but what many of our listeners may not know is that Fortune Magazine named you to a list of the most powerful women next generation. That’s pretty extraordinary. And if that wasn’t enough, you’re also a working mom. I’ve got one simple question. How do you do it?

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 00:45

Easy. I have a wonderful husband who really shares his responsibilities as a parent and I have, you know, great support around and to me it’s never been an option being a mom, being a wife or being a career woman. For me, fulfillment is everything. So a lot of people say, Oh, it’s having it all. I don’t think that that’s having it all. For me it’s fulfillment is having it all. And that’s just what I’m trying to seek.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show:01:14

It’s quite a quite a task. I don’t know how you do it, but more power to you. We were talking off camera and we were talking about how you got involved with the UN and how ENC bank got involved with the SSE you went, and you mentioned, you know, the, the empowerment principles. I think I have that right as the UN women’s empowerment principles. Could you talk more about that?

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 01:35

Yeah, the UN webs. So they’re great simple 10 principles on what private sector can do to try to promote gender equality. They almost shouldn’t be called the “Women’s Empowerment Principles.” They should just be “Empowerment Principles” cause it’s about making sure that your staff are trained adequately, women and men. It’s about making sure that that you are creating an environment in the workplace that is safe and healthy for women and men. So I got involved about a year and a half ago. I was at a UNCDF conference on women, SME owners. And I learned about the Empowerment Principles. And to me it was a no brainer as a CEO. That’s exactly the type of environment that I’m trying to create at work and for my children and the next generation to come.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show:02:24

Do you find that it’s an uplifting, a series of principles for your organization?

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 02:30

It’s great. I mean, what I love is they’re so simple. And they just bring it to the forefront of my mind. So for example, what we’re doing at ANZ Bank LAO, we’re looking at our procurement processes and I’ve decided that that’s it. When we go out for tender, I want to try to find women to respond to our tenders as well. So it’s a bit of a challenge sometimes living in a Southeast Asian country particularly when a lot of our tenders are for IT based work and try to find women in IT. So what that then triggers is a bit of enthusiasm of let’s get out there, let’s start educating girls on it and the STEM, science, technology engineering and math. So I have my IT department is now excited and they want to get out and start tutoring. So what I love about something like the Women’s Empowerment Principles and the SDGs is they give private sector leaders a bit of a framework and a bit of an “aha” moment on what should I be doing, what is important. That’s right. Sustainability and give us some guidelines on how to make it reality.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show: 03:37

You just mentioned that you’ve worked in, in Southeast Asian country and, and I think our view is I’d like to know how you got there.

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 03:44

Well it’s funny, I was actually on my second maternity leave and I got a phone call from someone at our HR department and he said why don’t you come in, I want to talk to you about LAOs. And it basically started that way. CEO roles were always on my radar since I joined a fed bank. And it was just the right, surprisingly the right time, despite me being on maternity leave. It was the right country, right opportunity. And I don’t regret it. It’s great country to live in.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show: 04:13

I want to bring it back home for a second in the conference today and what you got out of it. The question, this question I’ve asked everybody that sat in that chair, how does the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative and what their, their likely activities are over the next couple of years? How will that integrate with your organization and where you’re going to do?

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 04:32

You know, I think it’s really important for stock exchanges to take part. They have responsibility just the way that banks do by setting targets, by creating transparency by establishing indices that allow businesses to be measured against one another from a sustainable lens. It creates a momentum. It creates a way for companies to be measured against one another and it creates investors gives the investors an opportunity to decide who they want to invest in, in which country, which companies they want to back.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show: 05:04

I want to ask a follow-up question to that because I’ve heard that that the sustainable indices mentioned a few times. Now, are they getting prevalent? Are investors moving into these indices?

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 05:13

Probably not at the speed that I’d like to see. I know at ANZ group, we take sustainable business practices very seriously. And globally I think the, the environment has changed. Regulators are looking at banks to take more accountability on doing some more due diligence on the customers that they’re banking. So I’d like to see there be a little bit more momentum and a little bit more recognition from investors and analysts on, you know, the outperformers in this space. Like ANZ Bank and maybe some of the ones that are slow cause it’ll catch up with them. And I think, you know, we’re seeing some companies in the media right now. And it means hard dollars, you know, taken off their P and L. And that’s an important message.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show: 05:57

It is an important message. Any, any last words to the UN and the SSC before you leave today?

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 06:02

Yeah, I think, you know what the Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative it’s just smart. It’s something that represents where we are right now and where we’re going as a, you know, a global economy. And, you know, really support the UN SDGs. I think they’re a great playbook for private sector leaders like myself.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show: 06:23

Tammy, thanks so much. Well said.

Tammy Medard – CEO, ANZ Bank (LAO) Limited: 06:25

Thank you for having me.

David Nelson – Show Host, Traders Network Show: 06:27

That was Tammy Medard, CEO of ANZ Bank, LAOs. By the way, a quick thank you goes out to 1-800-PublicRelations for all the PR media support. Thanks for joining. I’m David Nelson at the New York Stock Exchange.