HSBC, Standard Chartered and other bank bosses take pay cuts amid coronavirus fallout

HSBC's CEO and CFO will donate 25 per cent of their salary for the next 6 months, while Standard Chartered's CEO and CFO Andy Halford would waive their cash bonuses for this year. PHOTOS: REUTERS, AFP

LONDON (REUTERS) - Top executives at British lenders HSBC, Standard Chartered and NatWest said on Wednesday they would take salary cuts after pressure on bankers to show solidarity with customers struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus crisis.

Lloyds said all its executives - including chief executive officer (CEO) Antonio Horta-Osorio - had asked not to be considered for bonuses for 2020, but none took pay cuts or donated some of their salary to charity, unlike directors at the other three banks.

HSBC said its CEO Noel Quinn and chief financial officer (CFO) Ewen Stevenson will donate 25 per cent of their salary for the next 6 months to charity and forego their cash bonuses, totalling £1.4 million (S$2.5 million) and £800,000 respectively.

HSBC chairman Mark Tucker will also donate his entire director's fee for 2020, amounting to £1.5 million according to the bank's annual report.

In late March, HSBC said it has paused, for the time being, the "vast majority" of its planned redundancies to deal with the fallout from the pandemic, according to a staff memo seen by Reuters. Mr Quinn had previously planned to cut about 35,000 jobs as part of an overhaul of Europe's largest bank by assets.

Meanwhile, Standard Chartered on Wednesday said its CEO Bill Winters and CFO Andy Halford would waive their cash bonuses for this year and make "significant" personal donations to the lender's Covid-19 Assistance fund.

Mr Winters has donated £825,000, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Standard Chartered reiterated that no staff would be laid off as a result of the pandemic, and that it has not furloughed any of its 84,000 employees across 59 markets.

The CEO and the chairman of NatWest, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), have taken a 25 per cent cut in salaries for the rest of the year. Alison Rose, who became CEO last year, also told the board she does not want to be considered for up to £1.9 million worth of bonuses this year, the state-backed bank said.

"We are fully focused here at the bank on doing everything we can to provide financial support and advice to our customers in these very challenging times," chairman Howard Davies said.

The fixed pay money forfeited - which totals £559,000 - will be given to the National Emergencies Trust.

NatWest has not halted all redundancies and is pressing ahead with cuts to its investment bank.

The moves come after rival lenders Barclays and TSB, the British unit of Spain's Sabadell, said on Tuesday their senior executives would give up some pay.

The Bank of England piled pressure on banks last week by requesting all major lenders scrap cash bonus payments to executives and risk takers, as part of efforts to conserve capital that also included ditching dividends.

Britain's banks, which were saved by taxpayer funds in 2008, have faced criticism during the virus outbreak for not providing support fast enough to customers in financial difficulty.

The lenders have argued they are doing what they can and that early versions of the government relief schemes they were asked to deliver were flawed.

NatWest remains 62 per cent owned by taxpayers following its £45 billion state bailout in the 2008 financial crisis.

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