The Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the city's de facto central bank, will raise staff salaries an average of 4.8 per cent from next month, with chief executive Joseph Yam Chi-kwong, who dropped his right to a fatter pay cheque last year, also covered this time.
The HKMA's performance-linked increase for its 592 employees is similar to the 5 per cent average pay rise the Securities and Futures Commission gave to its 420 staffers.
However, it was higher than the maximum of 2.5 per cent recommended by the Employers' Federation of Hong Kong and the Human Resources Institute's recommendation of 2.4 per cent.
It was also one of the highest among all financial regulators, including the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, whose 800 employees this year had pay rises of between 2 per cent and 4 per cent.
The HKMA said its pay rise decision, which also comes with a 2.6-month bonus on average, followed a review done by independent consultants. Market observers said the increase was in line with last year's good returns of the Hong Kong Exchange Fund, which HKMA manages.Emily Lau Wai-hing, chairwoman of the Legislative Council's Finance Committee, said the HKMA should decide its pay rise only after making a reference to the raise for civil servants.
Hong Kong's 160,000 civil servants will know by September whether they will get their first pay increase since 2001. Their salary incrases have been frozen because of the government's ballooning budget deficits in previous years.