StanChart CEO Winters’ 2024 pay jumps 46% on year

STANDARD Chartered chief executive officer Bill Winters’ total salary for 2024 came up to nearly £10.7 million (S$18.1 million), a year-on-year jump of 46 per cent from £7.3 million.

This was spurred mainly by the long-term incentive part of his salary, which soared 77.5 per cent year-on-year to almost £7.6 million, according to the bank’s annual report on Friday (Feb 21). Granted in 2022, the long-term awards are share-based and will vest on a pro rata basis from next month to 2029.

The fixed pay and annual incentive portions of Winters’ salary were little changed from 2023, the bank said.

London’s top bankers are having their pay cheques resemble the bonus-heavy packages of their New York peers, after the UK scrapped a decade-old cap on bonuses in 2023 that was inherited from the European Union.

Addressing the issue in a media call, Winters said, “My motivation has never been about pay. My motivation is.... I hope when I eventually leave, I’ll say I’m very happy with the progress that we’ve made so far.”

The overall bonus pool at the London-headquartered bank rose 7 per cent year on year to US$1.7 billion. That compares with US$3.8 billion at rival HSBC, which was 0.8 per cent higher from 2023’s US$3.77 billion.

HSBC paid its CEO Georges Elhedery a total of £5.4 million in 2024. He took over the top role on Sep 2, after serving as chief financial officer from January 2023.

Shares rise since “crap” comment

The increase in StanChart’s bonus pool and the CEO’s pay comes as the emerging markets-focused bank said it would hand back US$1.5 billion more to shareholders.

Earlier, it said adjusted pretax profit came in at US$1.05 billion for the three months to December. That topped the Bloomberg-compiled analyst estimate of US$1.02 billion.

Winters lamented nearly a year ago that StanChart’s share price was “crap”, even though it reported consensus-beating profit then and launched a US$1 billion share buyback programme.

The stock has jumped almost 95 per cent in Hong Kong, and 97 per cent in London since. Its annual profit rose 18 per cent in 2024, boosted by record growth in its wealth business, and a strong performance by its markets division.

Despite the bump in share price, Winters said the bank still has a long way to go.

“I’m glad that over the past year, the market recognised that it’s at least a better franchise than what the market thought it was.... but we’re far from there. So mission accomplished? Absolutely not. Really good progress and good momentum? Yes.”

He added that the bank is focusing on adding resources, referring to the target of investing US$1.5 billion to grow the bank.

“We’re stating the obvious. Investing US$1.5 billion is investing in people, so it’s not about job cuts.”

That contrasts with HSBC’s post-earnings media call on Wednesday, where the issue of job cuts was brought up numerous times.

Elhedery said then that the hit to the bank’s global headcount arising from its drive to cut costs is likely to be under 8 per cent, as it focuses on generating 8 per cent in savings from salaries.

StanChart’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose 4.4 per cent to close at HK$116. That means the stock has risen about 1.6 per cent since Jun 10, 2015, the day Winters was appointed CEO.