Yahoo Finance HSBC Slashes Gulliver Pension By £250,000
The boss of HSBC had his pension allowance slashed by £250,000 last year in a move aimed at appeasing big investors in Europe's largest bank.
Sky News has learnt that HSBC will disclose on Monday that a cash sum handed to Stuart Gulliver in 2015 in lieu of a pension was cut from £625,000 to £375,000.
The move represents a decision by the bank to cut the awards from 50% of executives' base salaries to 30%, following shareholder complaints that they had been excessive.
HSBC had previously signalled it would bring its policy into line with that of other FTSE-100 companies.
Sources said on Saturday that Mr Gulliver's overall remuneration for last year would be "materially" lower than the £7.6m he received for 2014, although they added that he would still get well over £6m.
HSBC, which said this week that it would keep its headquarters in the UK after a ten-month review, will also announce that it is not cutting its annual dividend, confounding the prediction of a number of City analysts.
The dividend payout, which is among the most generous in the FTSE-100, has been regarded as being under pressure because of the slowdown in China and other Asian economies to which HSBC is heavily exposed.
One adviser to the bank acknowledged the potential perils of long-term negative interest rates and a further weakening of Chinese GDP, but said that wide-ranging cost-cutting at HSBC was delivering "meaningful" savings.
Mr Gulliver's pay award, like that of other bank bosses, will be closely scrutinised, particularly after HSBC opted to reverse a group-wide pay freeze in the wake of a staff rebellion.
The bank said earlier this month that previously agreed pay rises would be funded from the 2016 bonus pool to be handed out next year.
Although HSBC is by far Europe's most profitable bank, Mr Gulliver continues to be paid much lower sums than many of his Wall Street counterparts.
Sky News revealed last week that HSBC's bonus pool is likely to be marginally down on the $3.7bn (£2.57bn) awarded for 2014, although profits are forecast to have risen from $18.7bn (£13bn) to about $22bn (£15.3bn).
The bank faced a number of new regulatory setbacks last year, including significant new provisions for product mis-selling, and this month paid a $470m fine for "abusive mortgage practices" during the build-up to the 2008 financial crisis.
Its biggest reputational headache last year was the revival of the Swiss tax-dodging affair, which prompted MPs to summon Mr Gulliver and his chairman, Douglas Flint.
Investors and HSBC executives have been frustrated by the performance of the bank's share price, which has fallen by more than 25% over the last 12 months.
HSBC, which has a market value in London of £88.1bn, declined to comment.
