HSBC shareholders back new pay plan as CEO takes cut

HSBC Holdings shareholders approved the bank's executive pay by a larger majority than last year after Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver took a bonus cut and the bank lengthened deferrals for top managers.

More than 90 per cent approved the executive pay report for 2015, after about 24 per cent of shareholders opposed it in last year's vote, the bank said Friday at its annual general meeting in London. Gulliver had his variable pay for 2015 cut £361,000 ($513,000) to £3 million, reducing his total compensation to the lowest since taking the CEO role in 2011.

Shareholders also backed the lender's future pay policy, which boosts deferral of variable compensation for top executives to seven years from three years and cuts the cash given in lieu of a pension to 30 per cent of their salary from 50 per cent. Chairman Douglas Flint said at the meeting that the changes lowered the maximum amount executive directors could receive by an average of 7 per cent.