HSBC, Standard Chartered bosses forego bonuses in mea culpa to calm rebel shareholders in dividend fight
- Rebel shareholders have demanded HSBC eliminate pay to top management for a year
- Move comes after UK regulator told banks not to pay bonuses to senior staff
HSBC and Standard Chartered said on Thursday that their top executives would waive their bonuses this year and donate part of their salaries to helping fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Rebel shareholders, incensed at the loss of dividends, have demanded that the bank eliminate pay to top management for a year.
In an internal memo released on Wednesday afternoon London time, HSBC said that its chief executive, Noel Quinn, and its chief financial officer, Ewen Stevenson, would waive their cash bonuses for 2020 and donate a quarter of their salary for the next six months to charity. The donation would equal about £159,000 (US$197,300) for Quinn and £93,000 for Stevenson.
Mark Tucker, the HSBC chairman, also would donate his entire fee for 2020 – £1.5 million – to charity, according to the memo seen by the South China Morning Post.
“All three of us will donate to charities supporting health care workers and vulnerable people in the UK and Hong Kong,” Quinn said in the memo.