Late Lunchtime Links: Yes, but are HSBC's pay rises BACKDATED?

As we have been noting for a while, pay increases at HSBC are a little overdue. Now, Mark Kleinman at Sky News says they've arrived.

Kleinman said yesterday that HSBC is doubling pay for some of its senior staff, but that overall packages will be unchanged because bonuses are decreasing proportionately.

This clearly raises the question of whether these salary increases are going to be backdated. HSBC doesn't usually pay its bonuses until the end of February. If salaries are hiked only from December 2010, there's a danger that the increase will - in fact - create an opportunity to cut February's bonuses based on the promise of higher salaries in 2011, rather than the actuality of higher salaries in 2010 (in which case it sounds like a bit of a bad deal).

Such questions remain unanswered, but it's worth noting that HSBC isn't known for its generosity. According to some HSBC insiders, the increases still haven't been widely announced internally, and when they come they're expected to be worth anything from 50-75%, rather than double as Kleinman predicts.

"HSBC is trying to kill 2 birds with one stone," says Ebrahim Zaheer, a consultant at Kennedy Associates. "It's needed to increase salaries in line with its competitors for a while. This also enables it to bow to government pressure to reduce bonuses."

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