HSBC investors approve £120m pay deal
Shareholders vote in favour of banking group's proposals despite concerns over its US business
The majority of HSBC shareholders have approved an executive pay package
worth as much as £120m over the next three years despite criticism by some
investors.
The bank told investors the expected awards for executives would more likely
mean they are paid near the median of their peer group, dismissing the top
number as ‘mathematical nonsense’, Reuters reported.
Unite the Union called on HSBC shareholders at today’s annual general meeting
in London to vote against the proposed executive pay scheme.
Graham Goddard, Unite Deputy General Secretary, said: ‘Unite questions how
HSBC can justify the fact that the starting salary of a HSBC employee is just
above £11,000 and many of the bank’s employees are forced to survive on benefits
and tax credits.
‘These plans for rewarding senior management come at a time when some of the
bank’s workforce are being given sub-inflation or zero-per cent pay rises. It is
the hard-working employees of HSBC who have ensured that the bank is delivering
the service which ensures that the company continues to be a profitable
financial services organisation in a fiercely competitive environment,’
PRNewswire reported.
Unite is the largest union in the UK, with over two million members in the
public and private sectors.