HSBC faces investor anger on pay

HSBC bosses faced shareholder anger over lacklustre returns and high
executive pay, at the bank's annual general meeting. Chairman Douglas
Flint admitted that shareholder returns had been disappointing and
inadequate. A fifth of investors refused to back the bank's
remuneration plan, marking stronger opposition over pay than that
faced by other banks in the UK. Under the plan, chief executive Stuart
Gulliver could earn up to £12.5m. The remuneration report contained
new arrangements for paying board members in the wake of protests at
last year's shareholder meeting. But some investors at this year's
meeting were still unhappy. "How greedy is this board of directors?"
asked private shareholder Michael Mason-Mahon. Ahead of the AGM, both
share advisory group Pirc and the Association of British Insurers had
raised concerns about the scheme. But another institutional investor,
Standard Life - which had been one of the bank's fiercest critics over
executive pay last year - backed the plan.
---------------BBC ONLINE