It’s HSBC results and bonus day. People there who are still in employment at the bank may find it’s been a good year. HSBC has increased its overall bonus pool, and with it the amount it allocates to senior regulated staff known as material risk takers (MRTs).
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HSBC’s total bonus pool for 2025 is up 10% year-on-year to $3.9bn. Bloomberg points out that this is its highest level in a decade. The bonus pool paid to HSBC’s investment bank MRTs is up by a more modest 6% on 2024.
Individual MRTs in HSBC’s investment bank have nonetheless had an 11% increase in their average bonuses after the bank reduced their number by 24 people last year during its ruthless withdrawal from the equity capital markets and M&A business outside of Asia and the Middle East. It’s also been pruning people directly before bonuses are announced today.
As per the chart below, average MRT bonuses in the investment bank at HSBC were $819k for 2025, while average MRT salaries there were $584k. Total compensation for HSBC’s top investment bank employees therefore averaged $1.4m. This maybe heavily skewed towards a few people though: HSBC reportedly intends to pay zero bonuses to many people this year, while the highest paid employees at the bank were generously rewarded. Seven earned €6-€7m million and an unnamed individual received €16m-€17m.
HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery reportedly declared that the bank’s new compensation structure, focused on an “eat what you kill” approach, will permit the bank “to attract, to hire and to retain talent.”
People let go from HSBC won’t be paid for killing anything. Across the bank as a whole, 134 identified staff were let go last year and were given an average of $504k each to see them on their way.
Some senior HSBC people say they would like to receive these parting gifts. “You get a big pay off and a huge tax break. A lot of us have been hoping for it,” says one.
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