Well isn't that nice of them, however I can't help but think that this was one of those "jump before their pushed" moments. With all the public outrage lately at bonuses and fiddling with expenses by bankers as well as MP's."MICHAEL GEOGHEGAN, the chief executive of HSBC, has turned down the chance to become Britain’s best-paid bank boss by handing a multi-million-pound bonus to charity.
He is in line for a payout of close to £4m after HSBC’s strong performance. This week it is expected to report annual profits of £10 billion.
Rather than give up the bonus, Geoghegan plans to pass it on to a number of children’s charities. The move follows public protests over payments to Britain’s bank bosses.
Stephen Hester, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, gave up his right to a £1.6m bonus last week in an effort to appease public anger.
Eric Daniels, the chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, was offered a £2.25m bonus by his board — but also chose to turn it down.
Hester and Daniels were deemed to have earned the payments in spite of huge losses racked up by their banks.
Peter Sands, the chief executive of Standard Chartered, is believed to be getting a bonus of more than £1m. It appears that the former McKinsey consultant, who helped to mastermind the RBS and Lloyds bailouts, plans to accept the payout. Standard Chartered, which specialises in Africa and Asia, has few UK operations.
Geoghegan’s decision comes after a long wrangle with shareholders over pay."
Maybe they wanted to try and show some redemption or maybe they were just trying to win back some support however minimal it might be.
The skeptical side of me says that although each of these people may be giving substantial amounts to charity they still not only accept their high salary but then might believe it is acceptable to receive a similiar bonus later and accept it, after all they donated their last one to charity right?
This was a nice gesture but such an action will either be a one time only occurrence or a rarity.
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