Standard Chartered, one of three note-issuing banks in Hong Kong, plans to open a "green branch" this year in the latest move by a local lender to promote banking services that can help cut pollution. It will open up its green deposits to retail investors this year, having already made them available to companies, she said. The bank will only use the pool of funds held in green deposits to finance projects that can help reduce pollution, such as renewable energy installations, in line with both Hong Kong and mainland China's carbon-neutrality targets.