HSBC awards 15 top bankers £7.1m in move to sidestep bonus rules...

HSBC has given 15 of its top bankers “fixed pay allowance arrangements” worth £7.1m under a controversial new pay scheme designed to dodge tough new European Union rules on bankers’ bonuses.

Britain’s biggest bank awarded Samir Assaf, the head of its investment bank, £1.5m worth of shares, and chief executive Stewart Gulliver was given shares worth £850,000.

Peter Wong, deputy chairman and head of the Asia-Pacific region, was given £760,000 worth. Iain Mackay, finance director, and Marc Moses, chief risk officer, got £470,000 worth.

The awards are part of big banks’ plans to increase the basic pay of executives to sidestep tough new EU rules designed to clamp down on excessive bonuses.

Banks have turned to awarding fixed pay allowances after the EU ruled to cap bonuses to 200% of salary, even if shareholders wanted to approve higher payments. Full story...

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