Any Other Business – 25/02
HSBC lifted the gates yesterday and let its wave of financial reportage wash over analysts, investors, journos and anyone else interested enough to wade through 31 separate releases. Part of the flotsam and jetsam that washed up on the shore was the 598-page annual report – bigger and beefier than last year (2012’s report was only 546 pages). Why the extra leafage? Well, HSBC seems to have gone big on transparency around pay and expenses. For example we’re privy to the fact chief executive Stuart Gulliver spent £79,000 on taxis in 2013 (£6,000 more than in 2012). Nice. Could all of this extra transparency have anything to do with HSBC’s push to gain shareholder approval to lift the EU bonus cap? Well, according to the bank, it’s just business as usual: “We’ve always gone that extra mile to make it very clear what we’re doing in regard to pay,” a spokesperson told The Capitalist.
NOKIA was keen to please at Mobile World Congress. The phone giant was using its location cloud service HERE to order attendees taxis – all they had to do was tweet @here, and a carriage would be on its way. One snag. The conference, with its 70,000 strong audience is playing havoc with Barcelona’s roads. “It’s gridlock, a five minute journey took us 45 minutes” said City A.M.’s man on the ground Oliver Smith. Sure enough, the @here twitter feed is full of apologies about drivers being delayed: “Sorry, but the driver is stuck in traffic and won’t make it in time 🙁 Hopefully you can find a taxi to the venue,” said one tweet. Well, it’s the thought that counts, right?