HSBC bonus pool rises to US$3.93 billion, with focus on rewarding top performers

Published Wed, Feb 25, 2026 · 04:25 PM — Updated Wed, Feb 25, 2026 · 08:06 PM

[LONDON] HSBC Holdings’s overall bonus pool rose 10 per cent to US$3.93 billion, the highest in at least a decade after the bank delivered full year results that beat estimates.

The rise comes as chief executive officer Georges Elhedery looks to pivot the lender towards more of a Wall Street-type bonus system as part of a sweeping overhaul. The new compensation structure will allow the bank “to attract, to hire and to retain talent,” Elhedery said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.

“Compensation has to be fair and has to be competitive, but it equally has to be differentiated to reflect talent contribution and performance,” Elhedery said. “We expect this differentiation to continue as we embed the high performance culture at HSBC.”

Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that some bankers were likely to get little to no bonuses as HSBC plans to encourage underperformers – including managing directors – to leave following the payouts.

The bank’s market value last year crossed £200 billion for the first time in its history. The bonus pool rose 10 per cent compared to adjusted figures for 2024 and overall fixed pay increased by 3.2 per cent in 2026.

After driving through one of the biggest restructurings in decades, and overseeing a surge in the bank’s share price, Elhedery was handed £6.62 million (S$11.3 million) in pay for 2025, his first full year in charge. That was up from £5.58 million in 2024.

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Since taking the helm in 2024, Elhedery has combined the lender’s commercial and global banking businesses and also shuttered most of its deals and equity underwriting operations in the US, UK and continental Europe.

The UK lender, founded in 1865 to support trade, has doubled down on Hong Kong, it’s biggest market, with the privatisation of Hang Seng Bank for about US$14 billion. It said on Wednesday that its wealth business and Hong Kong franchise helped lift performance. BLOOMBERG