HSBC pay plan opposed by 10 per cent of shareholders

HSBC’s pay plan for directors was opposed by 10.2 per cent of shareholders at the bank’s annual meeting today, less than the previous year as Europe’s biggest bank avoided the kind of shareholder backlash seen by competitors.

HSBC said 86.3 per cent of votes cast were in favour of the resolution on remuneration while 13.7 per cent of shareholders either voted against the plan or withheld their votes.

Last year 18.7 per cent of shareholders opposed the bank’s pay plan.

The City has been rocked by the events of the ‘shareholder spring’ that has claimed the chief executives of Aviva and Trinity Mirror after investors signalled that they were not willing to accept pay rises for directors while shares continue to under perform.

This week the government published details of the Enterprise Bill which will hand shareholders a binding vote on executive pay deals.