Top HSBC executives had to defend bonus cuts for employees from the global banking and markets unit – the only division to post a revenue increase at the bank last year.
HSBC’s group chief executive Noel Quinn alongside the co-heads of the global banking and markets – Georges Elhedery and Greg Guyett – spoke to staff in the division to justify the bonus cuts, according to a «Bloomberg» report citing unnamed sources.
Poorer performance due to the pandemic and a weak economic backdrop were attributed as reasons for the reductions. Junior employees were less affected and received bonuses that were relatively more in line with performance.
This is despite global banking and markets posting a 3 percent revenue, making it the only division in the bank to record a revenue increase.
15 Percent Cut
According to the report, bonuses at the global banking and trading unit fell 15 percent for 2020. Even for top performers based on internal assessment, bonus cuts have been applied and no pay increase should be expected.
Overall, HSBCs 2020 bonus pool fell 20.4 percent to $2.66 billion with Asia marked as the leading recipient relative to other regions.
According to the bank’s annual report, 324 unnamed bankers were paid more than 1 million euros ($1.2 million) with five paid over 5 million euros and one paid between 9-10 million euros.
