HSBC may scrap pay hike of its CEO: report

Global banking major HSBC is expected to scrap the 36-per cent pay hike to its Chief Executive Michael Geoghegan due to shareholders' anger, says a media report.

The board proposed hike would have taken his salary to a little more than 1.4 million pounds from 1.1 million pounds.

The HSBC board would make a final decision on Geoghegan's pay on Friday when it meets to sign off the 2009 results, which would be annnounced on Monday, The Times reported.

"HSBC is set to scrap the pay rise for Geoghegan and for Douglas Flint, the finance director, because of the febrile atmosphere over bank pay," the report noted.

In addition, the report said HSBC would decide on the bigger question of whether to award Geoghegan an annual bonus for 2009, which could be worth 400 per cent of his 1.1 million pounds salary, or about 4.4 million pounds.

HSBC boss is the only chief executive of a big British bank who did not waive his 2009 bonus. It is also unclear whether executive chairman Stephen Green would take his bonus for 2009.

All the HSBC executive directors had waived bonuses in 2008, and the bank has not raised salaries for three years.

According to the report, Geoghegan's salary would have risen by about 36 per cent to more than 1.4 million pounds and Flint's would have risen from 700,000 pounds to 900,000 pounds.