The Standard Chartered logo is the visual mark of Standard Chartered PLC, one of the largest international banking groups operating across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It’s a combination mark: a blue and green symbol called the Trustmark, paired with the bank’s name. The Trustmark dates back to 1969, the year the bank was formed through the merger of two colonial-era banks, and it has been redrawn several times since. The latest version arrived with the 2021 rebrand by Lippincott.
What Is the Standard Chartered Logo?
The Standard Chartered logo pairs the Trustmark, two interlocking blue and green ribbons in use since 1969, with a lowercase dark grey wordmark. Lippincott redrew the symbol, designed the new wordmark and created a bespoke typeface for the rebrand, revealed in February 2021 as the bank’s first rebrand in about 20 years.
| Standard Chartered logo at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Symbol | The Trustmark: two interlocking ribbons, one blue and one green, forming a stylized “S” shape |
| Designer/agency | Lippincott (2021 rebrand); no agency publicly credited for the 1969 original or the early-2000s version |
| Current version since | February 2021 |
| Colors (hex) | Blue #0473EA and green #38D200 (from the logo file on sc.com); wordmark dark grey, approx. #525252, sampled from the logo |
| Typeface | Bespoke typeface by Lippincott, named SC Prosper Sans in the bank’s website code; not publicly licensed |
| Previous major version | Early 2000s to 2021: blue “Standard Chartered” in title case on two lines with a lighter, layered Trustmark |
How Has the Standard Chartered Logo Evolved Over Time?
The logo has kept one constant since 1969: the Trustmark. What changed is how it was drawn, how it was colored and how the name next to it was set. Each major change tracked a shift in how the bank positioned itself, from a merged colonial bank to a digital-first international brand.
Original Standard Chartered Logo (1969 to the Early 2000s)
- Years Active: From the 1969 merger until the early-2000s rebrand
- Design Description: The first Trustmark, a compact angular symbol shown in black and white in most surviving reproductions, set beside the name in a plain sans-serif
- Designer: Not publicly credited
- Context: Standard Chartered was formed in 1969 by merging the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China (chartered in 1853) and the Standard Bank of British South Africa (founded in 1862)
- Key Changes from Previous: First unified mark after the merger
- Cultural Significance: Gave two banks with separate histories one shared symbol
The first Standard Chartered logo looked much more like a stamp than the colorful ribbons used today: a small, blocky black symbol next to a black name.
The Old Standard Chartered Logo (Early 2000s-2021)
- Years Active: Early 2000s to February 2021
- Design Description: “Standard Chartered” in blue title case on two lines, with the Trustmark redrawn as layered blue and green ribbons in lighter and darker tints
- Color Scheme: Blues and greens
- Designer: No agency has been publicly confirmed
- Context: A new brand identity rolled out in the early 2000s; in 2010 the bank added the brand promise “Here for good”, created with its creative partner TBWA
- Key Changes from Previous: Color arrived; the symbol became softer and more dimensional
- Cultural Significance: This is the version most people remember from Liverpool FC shirts, which carried Standard Chartered from 2010
The old Standard Chartered logo put a blue two-line name on the left and a layered, semi-transparent blue and green Trustmark on the right.
Current Standard Chartered Logo (2021-Present)
- Years Active: February 2021 to present
- Design Description: A simpler, bolder Trustmark in flat bright blue and green, placed to the left of a lowercase “standard chartered” in dark grey
- Color Scheme: Blue #0473EA, green #38D200, dark grey
- Designer: Lippincott, with teams in London, Hong Kong and Singapore
- Context: Described by Lippincott as the bank’s first rebrand in 20 years; the scope covered the symbol, wordmark, a bespoke typeface, refreshed colors, a digital design system, a brand voice and photography
- Key Changes from Previous: Flat colors instead of tints; lowercase grey wordmark instead of blue title case; symbol moved to the left
- Cultural Significance: Built for app icons and small screens, where the flat colors hold up better than the old tints
What Do the Design Elements of the Standard Chartered Logo Mean?
The logo works through a simple visual system: one symbol, two brand colors and one typeface. The Trustmark carries the recognition, and the grey wordmark stays quiet so the symbol can do the work.
The bank hasn’t published a detailed official explanation of the 1969 symbol. When the refreshed logo launched in Bangladesh in 2021, the local CEO described the Trustmark as a symbol of unity and shared values across the bank’s markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The popular reading, two strands for the two banks that merged in 1969, fits that, but it’s an interpretation rather than a documented brief.
What Are the Standard Chartered Logo Colors?
Blue carries the weight of institutional trust. Blue is the dominant color across bank logos globally, and Standard Chartered’s 2021 blue is brighter than most, which reads as modern and digital.
The psychological impact is stability and reliability, exactly what you want from a bank operating in very different economies.
Green is more unusual for banking. It points to growth and, since 2010, to the sustainability side of the “Here for good” promise. In the 2021 version it became a vivid, almost lime green.
Together, the two hues form something close to an analogous color pairing, both sitting next to each other on the color wheel. The high saturation of the 2021 colors is what makes the symbol pop on screens.
The bank doesn’t publish a public brand color sheet, so here is what can be checked. The logo file on the bank’s own website (sc.com) fills the Trustmark with two colors:
- Blue: #0473EA, which is 4, 115, 234 in RGB
- Green: #38D200, which is 56, 210, 0 in RGB
- Wordmark grey: approx. #525252, sampled from the current logo
Many logo sites still list older values such as #0072AA and #21AA47. Those match the pre-2021 logo, not the current one. No official Pantone or CMYK values have been published, so treat any you find online as estimates.
What Typography Style Is Used in the Standard Chartered Logo?
For the 2021 rebrand, Lippincott created a bespoke typeface, and the work won typography awards, including an iF Design Award in 2022. On the bank’s website the font family is called SC Prosper Sans. It isn’t available for public licensing.
The wordmark itself is set in lowercase, in a clean sans-serif font with a few custom touches, most visibly the open, hooked “t” in “standard” and “chartered”. The x-height is generous, which helps legibility at small sizes.
Kerning and tracking are even across both lines, and the tight leading keeps the stacked name reading as one block.
The old wordmark used blue title case. Switching to lowercase grey made the name feel friendlier and handed the color to the symbol. The typography change was one of the most visible parts of the rebrand.
What Are the Hidden Meanings in the Standard Chartered Logo?
There’s no confirmed hidden symbolism. The bank hasn’t publicly claimed any subliminal geometry or double meaning.
Many people see a letter “S” in the Trustmark, which suits a name that starts with that letter. Others read the two ribbons as the two founding banks. Neither reading has been confirmed as the original intent.
What’s clear is the strategy behind the 2021 redraw. Lippincott said the symbol helps keep the brand consistent across the many informal regional nicknames the bank has picked up, so the Trustmark often does the identifying work on its own.
How Does the Standard Chartered Logo Compare to Competitor Logos?
Standard Chartered sits in a peer group of major international banks, and like most of them it relies on a strong standalone symbol.
The HSBC logo uses its red and white hexagon, its closest rival in Hong Kong. Both symbols work without the name, but HSBC’s is angular and red while Standard Chartered’s is curved and blue-green.
The Barclays logo uses its spread eagle symbol, a more illustrative heritage icon. Deutsche Bank’s logo centers on a slash-within-a-square mark that’s become one of the most recognized abstract bank symbols.
The Citigroup logo uses a wordmark with an arc element, a middle ground between pure wordmark and symbol-based identity. The BNP Paribas logo and the ING logo also pair a graphic mark with the name, though neither uses two brand colors in the symbol.
The two-color symbol is Standard Chartered’s most distinctive feature in context. Most competitors use a single dominant color. Using two equally weighted brand colors in one symbol is less common and does create recognition value.
Among blue logos in finance, Standard Chartered’s 2021 blue is brighter than JP Morgan’s deep navy and the corporate blues used by most European institutions. The green addition is genuinely distinctive in this category.
What Cultural Impact Has the Standard Chartered Logo Had?
Standard Chartered operates in markets where brand trust matters enormously. Keeping the same symbol for more than 50 years has given it consistent recognition across very different cultural contexts.
The biggest stage has been football. Standard Chartered has been Liverpool FC’s main shirt sponsor since 2010, so the Trustmark reaches a global audience every match week. The bank is also the title sponsor of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.
That kind of repeated exposure in non-financial settings builds a different kind of recognition than advertising alone. It’s a real shift for an institution with colonial-era roots.
The “Here for good” promise, launched on 31 March 2010 with a global campaign by TBWA, gave the logo a message to carry. The bank described it as a simple phrase with several meanings: commitment to clients, a focus on sustainability, and longevity. The 2021 rebrand kept the line with an updated visual treatment.
How Does the Standard Chartered Logo Fit Into the Overall Brand Identity?
The logo is the anchor for a broader system built in 2021 around the same blue-green palette, the bespoke typeface, a digital design system and people-first photography. Any group this size relies on brand guidelines and a brand style guide to keep that consistent, although Standard Chartered’s internal documents aren’t public.
The identity connects to the bank’s “Here for good” promise, which Lippincott elevated with a new visual treatment that complements the logotype.
The logo also sits behind the bank’s ventures, although some, such as the Hong Kong digital bank Mox, use their own identities to reach a different audience.
Across all of this, the Trustmark stays consistent. That consistency is the identity’s actual strength.
How Should the Standard Chartered Logo Be Used?
This is general advice for designers and writers, not the bank’s own rules:
- Use the current 2021 logo, ideally as vector graphics (SVG), not the old blue title-case version
- Don’t recolor, stretch, rotate or add shadows, outlines or gradients
- Prefer PNG or SVG over JPEG, since compression leaves artifacts around thin letter edges; use bitmap formats only when vectors aren’t supported
- Export at a resolution that suits the medium; the DPI needed for print is higher than for screens
- Leave breathing room around the logo and avoid busy photographic backgrounds
Licensing and Trademark
The Standard Chartered name and logo are trademarks of Standard Chartered PLC. Editorial use for news and commentary is generally accepted, but any commercial or co-branded use needs permission from the bank. For press needs, contact the bank’s media relations team.
FAQ on the Standard Chartered Logo
What Does the Standard Chartered Logo Look Like?
It’s the Trustmark, two interlocking ribbons in bright blue and green, next to the name “standard chartered” in dark grey lowercase letters on two lines.
Who Designed the Standard Chartered Logo?
The current version was designed by Lippincott and revealed in February 2021. The agency redrew the Trustmark, designed the wordmark and created a bespoke typeface. No designer has been publicly credited for the original 1969 symbol.
What Is the Standard Chartered Logo Symbol Called?
The symbol is called the Trustmark. It has been used since 1969, when Standard Bank and Chartered Bank merged.
What Does the Standard Chartered Logo Mean?
The bank describes the Trustmark as a symbol of unity and shared values across its markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Many people also read the two ribbons as the two banks that merged in 1969, but that has not been confirmed as the original intent.
What Did the Old Standard Chartered Logo Look Like?
From the early 2000s to 2021, the logo showed “Standard Chartered” in blue title case on two lines, with a layered, softer blue and green Trustmark beside it. The 1969 original was a small black angular symbol.
What Are the Standard Chartered Logo Color Codes?
The logo file on sc.com uses blue #0473EA and green #38D200. The wordmark is dark grey, approximately #525252. Older codes such as #0072AA and #21AA47 match the pre-2021 logo.
What Font Does the Standard Chartered Logo Use?
A bespoke typeface created by Lippincott for the 2021 rebrand. The bank’s website calls the font family SC Prosper Sans. It isn’t available for public licensing.
When Did Standard Chartered Change Its Logo?
The most recent change was revealed in February 2021, the bank’s first rebrand in about 20 years. The previous update came in the early 2000s.
Does Standard Chartered Have a Standalone Symbol?
Yes. The Trustmark can stand on its own without the name, and Lippincott redrew it in 2021 partly so it would carry recognition across markets where the bank has local nicknames.
Is the Standard Chartered Logo Trademarked?
Yes. The name and logo are trademarks of Standard Chartered PLC. Editorial use is generally fine, but commercial use requires permission from the bank.
Conclusion
The Standard Chartered logo is one of the more consistent identity systems in global banking. The Trustmark has survived more than 50 years, a merger’s worth of history and two major redraws.
The 2021 rebrand by Lippincott kept that symbol and simplified everything around it: flat blue and green, a lowercase grey name and a bespoke typeface built for screens.
The font choice, the color theory and the reduced detail all point to the same idea: trust through simplicity.
For a financial institution operating across Asia, Africa and the Middle East, that kind of visual consistency is worth a lot.
Sources
- Lippincott, Standard Chartered case study – https://lippincott.com/work/standard-chartered
- GDUSA, Lippincott rebrands banking giant Standard Chartered – https://gdusa.com/lippincott-rebrands-banking-giant-standard-chartered/
- The Business Standard, StanChart unveils new brand logo in Bangladesh – https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/banking/stanchart-unveils-new-brand-logo-bangladesh-214357
- Standard Chartered press release, Standard Chartered positions brand to support sustained growth (31 March 2010) – https://www.sc.com/global/av/sg-news-media-press-100331.pdf
- Wikipedia, Standard Chartered – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Chartered
- Standard Chartered website (logo file colors and font names in the site code) – https://www.sc.com/en/
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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