UK bank chiefs to be awarded over £4m in 2016 bonuses

The chief executives of Britain's biggest high street lenders will collectively be awarded more than £4m in annual bonuses next week, a figure that will highlight the gulf in pay between bank chiefs on either side of the Atlantic (Shanghai: 600558.SS - news) .

Sky News has learnt that Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) , HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group will announce alongside their full-year ‎results that their bosses will get roughly £1.5m, £1.6m and £1.2m respectively in annual incentive awards.

The awards for Jes Staley, Stuart Gulliver and Antonio Horta-Osorio will all ‎be deferred for several years and paid in shares.

The bonuses will be in addition to base salaries, role-based payments and long-term incentive awards, as well as six-figure pension contributions.

Sources said the banks were confident of shareholder support for the bonus payments for a year in which each of the three would be able to demonstrate solid performance in their respective strategies.

Sky News revealed last weekend that Barclays had proposed freezing Mr Staley's maximum potential pay for the next three‎ years, while Mr Horta-Osorio's overall package will fall by more than 25% to approximately £5.5m because of the decline in Lloyds' share price.

Mr Gulliver's total remuneration is expected to be broadly in line with the £7.3m he received for 2015, according to people close to Europe's biggest bank.

The bonus payouts for the trio of UK bank bosses‎ will again highlight the contrast between them and Ross McEwan, the Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) (RBS) chief executive, who is no longer eligible for annual incentive awards.

RBS‎ has cut its bonus pool for the eighth year running - to about £330m - while Lloyds will hand out roughly £390m in variable pay to staff.

While UK bank pay remains lucrative at the top, the 2016 bonus round will also reinforce the gulf between the deals enjoyed ‎by bank chiefs in the US by comparison with their peers across the Atlantic.

Brian Moynihan, Bank of America (Swiss: BAC-USD.SW - news) 's chief executive, received $20m for last year, with Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) 's boss Mike Corbat earning $15.5m‎ and James Gorman of Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) paid $22.5m.

Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds all declined to comment.