HSBC seeking investor support for pay shake-up: Reports
23 Mar 2011
HSBC Holdings Plc is seeking backing from investors to pay chief executive officer Stuart Gulliver as much as £13.3 million this year. This includes a base salary of £1.25 million.
This would be slightly less than the £13.5 million- pound package that his predecessor Michael Geoghegan received for 2010, which included a £1.08 million salary.
According to two people with knowledge of the matter, cited in a Bloomberg report, additionally, the bank's compensation committee, which is to meet with investors this week, has also proposed to tie Gulliver's long-term incentive plan to measures like strategy execution and reputation as also return on equity and capital strength, the people said. The people requested not to be identified as the plans are not public Bloomberg reported.
According to Robert Bailhache, a spokesman for HSBC, the principles underpinning the review include incentivising long-term sustainable performance linked to risk and continued improvement of alignment with shareholders.
He added a new scheme would be put up for shareholder approval at the annual meeting in May.
British banks are coming under increasing pressure from the government to curb pay after it was forced to bail out the industry during the credit crisis.