HSBC hands out bigger bonuses in push to rival Wall Street

TOM SAUNDERS

Wed, February 25, 2026 at 9:45 PM GMT+9 2 min read

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Average bonuses for HSBC investment bank staff were up 11pc last year compared with 2024 - Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg Finance LP

HSBC is handing its best bankers bigger bonuses as it seeks to compete with Wall Street rivals.

Senior investment bank staff received an average bonus of $819,000 (£606,000) last year, up 11pc compared with 2024. The overall pool of bonuses also increased by 10pc to $3.9bn, the highest in at least a decade.

Georges Elhedery, HSBC’s chief executive, said: “We are building a high-performance culture. It’s a culture where talent succeeds. It’s a culture where talent and performance are better rewarded and differentiated in the way we reward them.”

At the same time, HSBC reportedly intends to withhold bonuses entirely from its poorer performing staff, as it moves towards an “eat-what-you-kill” stance similar to its competitors in the US. Awarding bankers a dreaded “doughnut” – zero bonus – is seen in the industry as a humiliation.

In an attempt to improve performance and shake up the culture at the 160-year-old bank, Mr Elhedery has been swinging the axe.

The banking giant said it had cut the ranks of managing directors by 15pc over the last year, helping it meet a £1.1bn cost-cutting programme half a year early.

Many of the job losses have come from the combination of HSBC’s commercial banking, global banking and markets businesses last year. The merger led to a number of duplicated roles being axed.

Mr Elhedery, who was handed £6.62m in 2025, up from £5.58m last year, announced cost-cutting plans last year that included an 8pc reduction in payroll costs.

In total, HSBC’s employee numbers fell from 221,000 to just over 218,000 over the last year. However, pay and benefits rose from $20.2bn to $21.5bn over the same period.

The bank’s full-year results showed a pre-tax profit of $29.9bn for the year. That analysts’ estimate of $28.9bn was down 7pc compared to the prior year.

Shares in the bank rose more than 5pc on the FTSE 100.

Since taking over as chief executive, Mr Elhedery has led a radical restructuring of the bank. Along with cutting staff numbers and merging divisions, he has also doubled down on his predecessors’ focus on Asia.

The bank has shuttered some of its banking divisions in the US, the UK and Continental Europe and has taken private its troubled Hong Kong subsidiary Hang Seng Bank, as it looks to benefit from growth in the Asian financial hub.

Its business in Hong Kong saw revenue rise by 6pc to $15.9bn, while its UK division saw revenue rise by 5pc to $12.9bn.

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