HSBC head set for £2 million bonus – because bank didn’t break the law
HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver is on course to receive a £2million bonus for staying on the right side of the law in the US. Gulliver, who is standing down in February, is in line for the payout due to the expiry of a ‘Deferred Prosecution Agreement’. Under the DPA, the lender was allowed to keep its licence in the US provided its behaviour – supervised by an independent ‘monitor’ – stayed within the rules. HSBC paid $1.9billion in 2012 to settle allegations it had helped Mexican drug cartels launder money and that it had breached sanctions on Iran. To avoid a criminal record in the US it agreed to the five-year deal. Any more alleged criminal misbehaviour could have seen the DPA extended, or dropped in favour of criminal charges for the original offence.
The DPA concluded in December, meaning Gulliver will be able to get his hands on £1.2million awarded to him in 2012 but held over until the DPA ended.
The lifting of the DPA should also net Gulliver 25 per cent of a 2017 longterm incentive plan worth up to £4 million.
An HSBC spokesman said: ‘No decision on 2017 pay awards has been made yet.’