HSBC CEO Quinn’s pay almost doubles as bonus pool gains 12%

HSBC Holdings’ chief executive officer Noel Quinn’s total pay nearly doubled to £10.6 million (S$18 million) in 2023, from £5.56m in 2022.

The overall bonus pool rose by 12 per cent in 2023, bucking a trend of tepid bonuses across the industry amid weak deal flow and job cuts. Payouts rose to US$3.77 billion in 2023, the London-based lender said in its annual report on Wednesday. 

HSBC on Wednesday reported pretax profit rose 78 per cent to US$30.3 billion in 2023. The UK lender had signaled in the third quarter it may increase variable pay by US$300 million, resulting in higher expenses after a surge in third-quarter earnings.

The bank’s broader business, spanning wealth and lending has shielded it from the downturn in investment banking amid higher rates. In the previous year, HSBC said payouts were differentiated by business performance and the strongest outcomes were for commercial banking followed by wealth and personal banking. 

In Asia, HSBC’s biggest market, pay for most senior investment bankers at Wall Street firms in Asia dropped to the lowest level in almost two decades, according to people familiar with the matter, as a dearth of deals in China and Hong Kong hammered the industry. BLOOMBERG