HSBC boss earns 500 times more than bank's lowest paid workers last year

[weslgarlic]

HSBC boss earns 500 times more than bank's lowest paid workers last year

The bumper package included a near £2million annual bonus even though the bank was fined £1.2billion for a money laundering scandal

THE boss of HSBC earned over 500 times more than the bank’s lowest paid workers last year.

Stuart Gulliver received a hefty £7.4million in pay and perks for 2012, the bank revealed today.

The bumper package included a near £2million annual bonus even though the bank was fined £1.2billion for a money laundering scandal.

Mr Gulliver also pocketed a £1.25m salary, £1.2m in other benefits and share awards of £3m.

Awards from the previous year that he got last year mean his package rose to £8.9m.

HSBC also revealed that 204 staff were paid at least £1million last year, including 78 based in the UK.

In total, the five highest paid employees at the bank shared nearly £27.8million in pay, perks and bonuses.

Yet while Gulliver and other high earners raked it in, the Unite union said some HSBC workers were earning as little as £14,000 a year.

The bank is also proposing to close its final salary pension scheme for existing members, while some workers will get two days fewer holiday under plans announced by the bank.

The criticism came as HSBC revealed underlying profits soared by 18% to £10.9billion last year.

The banking group, which employs 270,000 people, makes an estimated 90% of its money outside Britain and has benefited from its exposure to emerging markets in Asia. There are 48,000 people in the UK business.

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “Long serving HSBC staff earning as little as £14,000 a year are having their pensions attacked while the bank announces astronomical profits.

“In an act of sheer pettiness the billion dollar bank is snatching two days holiday a year from its staff and cutting sick pay.

“The savings the bank is making from these changes are a drop in the ocean compared to its profits and the bonuses being awarded.

"HSBC can easily afford to provide decent pensions to all its staff.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The culture of entitlement is alive and well in the City.

“At a time when real wages are falling for the vast majority of people, the banking sector is continuing to hand out huge bonuses as if they were pocket change.”

Commenting on the results, Stuart Gulliver said: “HSBC made significant progress in 2012. First and foremost we grew our business.

“We increased revenues, performed well in most faster-growing markets and enjoyed a record year in commercial banking.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/city-news/hsbc-boss-stuart-gulliver-earns-1743018

Talk about us and them

[Black Dawg]

JusT not on time Bieber makes that much more than the marmalade lady at the O2 and she has to show up on time.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2288167/Justin-Bieber-2-hours-late-concert-forcing-parents-children-home-seeing-idol.html

[Glyn]

The perks of being the boss? I have no qualms with the CEO getting a bonus, and the top people in the compnay should be well compensated.

It's shitty to nix holiday and sick pay along with altering/stopping pensions while experiencing such profits and handing out such generous bonuses. Some shady stuff, especially the money laundering.

I'm curious to know what the workers that were earning £14,000 (about $21,189, $10.19 per hour) do...what's their job title? I doubt they have the type of responsibility the higher ups do.

[weslgarlic]

I suppose it's not set out as say a co=operative like ARIZMENDI BAKERIES

[Charles J. White]

HSBC boss earns 500 times more than bank's lowest paid workers last year

The bumper package included a near £2million annual bonus even though the bank was fined £1.2billion for a money laundering scandal

THE boss of HSBC earned over 500 times more than the bank’s lowest paid workers last year.

Stuart Gulliver received a hefty £7.4million in pay and perks for 2012, the bank revealed today.

The bumper package included a near £2million annual bonus even though the bank was fined £1.2billion for a money laundering scandal.

Mr Gulliver also pocketed a £1.25m salary, £1.2m in other benefits and share awards of £3m.

Awards from the previous year that he got last year mean his package rose to £8.9m.

HSBC also revealed that 204 staff were paid at least £1million last year, including 78 based in the UK.

In total, the five highest paid employees at the bank shared nearly £27.8million in pay, perks and bonuses.

Yet while Gulliver and other high earners raked it in, the Unite union said some HSBC workers were earning as little as £14,000 a year.

The bank is also proposing to close its final salary pension scheme for existing members, while some workers will get two days fewer holiday under plans announced by the bank.

The criticism came as HSBC revealed underlying profits soared by 18% to £10.9billion last year.

The banking group, which employs 270,000 people, makes an estimated 90% of its money outside Britain and has benefited from its exposure to emerging markets in Asia. There are 48,000 people in the UK business.

Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “Long serving HSBC staff earning as little as £14,000 a year are having their pensions attacked while the bank announces astronomical profits.

“In an act of sheer pettiness the billion dollar bank is snatching two days holiday a year from its staff and cutting sick pay.

“The savings the bank is making from these changes are a drop in the ocean compared to its profits and the bonuses being awarded.

"HSBC can easily afford to provide decent pensions to all its staff.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The culture of entitlement is alive and well in the City.

“At a time when real wages are falling for the vast majority of people, the banking sector is continuing to hand out huge bonuses as if they were pocket change.”

Commenting on the results, Stuart Gulliver said: “HSBC made significant progress in 2012. First and foremost we grew our business.

“We increased revenues, performed well in most faster-growing markets and enjoyed a record year in commercial banking.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/city-news/hsbc-boss-stuart-gulliver-earns-1743018

Talk about us and them

And Jimmy Page the same vs the guy working at the counter of HMV - BIG DEAL, that's life...

[Black Dawg]

And Jimmy Page the same vs the guy working at the counter of HMV - BIG DEAL, that's life...

And Joey Flacco with a $120.6m contract over 6 years and the hot dog vendor averages $7.50/hr.

http://www.yourpirate.com/articles/sports/218-nfl-owners-locking-out-greedy-concession-workers-who-demanded-reinstatement-of-annual-holiday-party.html

[weslgarlic]

And Joey Flacco with a $120.6m contract over 6 years and the hot dog vendor averages $7.50/hr.

http://www.yourpirate.com/articles/sports/218-nfl-owners-locking-out-greedy-concession-workers-who-demanded-reinstatement-of-annual-holiday-party.html

Some sports have a salary cap , The English soccer players union got theirs overturn in the 60's

[greenman]

And Joey Flacco with a $120.6m contract over 6 years and the hot dog vendor averages $7.50/hr.

http://www.yourpirate.com/articles/sports/218-nfl-owners-locking-out-greedy-concession-workers-who-demanded-reinstatement-of-annual-holiday-party.html

The difference is I'd say that Flacco has risen to the top of a reasonable pure meritocracy, he prooves his superiority on the field to anyone else who might potentially carry out the same role.

Much of the executive class on the other had gives the impression of being more of an old boys club with CEO's failing miserabley yet still taking home massive payoffs.

[weslgarlic]

The difference is I'd say that Flacco has risen to the top of a reasonable pure meritocracy, he prooves his superiority on the field to anyone else who might potentially carry out the same role.

Much of the executive class on the other had gives the impression of being more of an old boys club with CEO's failing miserabley yet still taking home massive payoffs.

Most sports coaches are on short contracts , some very well paid , they get paid off if they don't succeed and get fired , quite often walking into another position at another club

[ScarletMacaw]

I'm with weslgarlic (Wesley?) and greenman. Celebrities in sports and the arts have to perform...CEOs today get paid even when they fail...it's just an old boy network...we are in late-stage capitalism, a system in which so many companies have been swallowed up in mergers and acquisitions that there is very little competition or "free market" anymore...I bank at a labor union-owned bank--one of the few...I dropped my account at Chase and told them it was political...my new bank pays interest on checking and it's open on Saturdays...why oh why did I stay with Chase so long---just a bunch of crooks and I was contributing to their profits...

[weslgarlic]

I'm with weslgarlic (Wesley?) and greenman. Celebrities in sports and the arts have to perform...CEOs today get paid even when they fail...it's just an old boy network...we are in late-stage capitalism, a system in which so many companies have been swallowed up in mergers and acquisitions that there is very little competition or "free market" anymore...I bank at a labor union-owned bank--one of the few...I dropped my account at Chase and told them it was political...my new bank pays interest on checking and it's open on Saturdays...why oh why did I stay with Chase so long---just a bunch of crooks and I was contributing to their profits...

David Fishwick, self-made millionaire and owner of the biggest minibus firm in the UK in Colne is set to open his own ‘Bank of Dave’ in Burnley to support local businesses.The set-up of the bank will be filmed by Channel 4 for an observational series called Bank of Dave which will follow the entrepreneur as he tries to get the venture into profit in 180 days. Dave has rented premises in Burnley town centre and is due to open for business in late September or October. The three-part TV show is set to air next spring and a book deal on the venture is in negotiation.The driving idea behind the venture is to give loans to businesses struggling to get help from the High Street banks. David, 40, said: “There are businesses and individuals out there who are hardworking and honest but through no fault of their own, they can no longer get loans. They are being ignored and let down by the banks, while bankers still pay themselves enormous salaries and bonuses. My bank may be tiny but it will be better than a high street bank. I want to show how banking can be socially responsible and not greedy and reckless and I’m going to do what the high street banks just can’t bring themselves to do, give away any profits to charity.”The venture will see him guarantee and underwrite all the banking activity from his personal fortune.He added that the that the idea for the venture came during the economic crisis of 2008/09 when banks were reluctant to give loans to his customers to buy minibuses, so he decided to lend the money himself.

http://burnley.co.uk/news/bank-of-burnley/2012/

The Bank of Dave: How one man, struck by the plight of firms unable to get loans in his home town, came up with a unique solution It is, if you like, a story of Dave and Goliath – one man’s attempt to take on the giant high-street banks he says are helping destroy towns such as Burnley in Lancashire. And, so far, Dave Fishwick is winning.Dave is a self-made millionaire, the owner of a company that manufactures and sells minibuses, so it is fair to say he has no problems getting credit on his own behalf. But when banks started refusing to lend money to his customers, Dave knew he had a problem, too. Local firms could no longer buy his vehicles. ‘The lending dried up almost overnight,’ he says. ‘It was killing their businesses and damaging mine.’ So he took the most practical approach possible – and decided to go into the credit business himself. The Bank of Dave was born. Today, hundreds of businessmen and women hold accounts at his modest town-centre shop, marking a return to the sort of old-fashioned, face-to-face banking that the big operators have mostly chosen to leave behind. The banks were turning down committed people who needed investment,’ he says. ‘They were destroying this town. You mention Burnley down South and people just think of the riots in 2001. ‘That’s nonsense. Burnley’s going through a tough time, like most of the country. But there’s a lot of decent, hard-working people in this town and they’re the people I wanted to help.’ Rachel McClure was among them. She needed £7,500 to revamp the front of her flower shop, Garlands Florist, last year. The business was in profit and she had a good credit record, so expected that a loan would be a formality. The clincher, surely, was that Rachel’s bank manager had spent a day working at the shop to see more of local business. The bank had issued a press release trumpeting its ‘caring’ initiative and printed pictures of the smiling manager holding a bouquet of flowers. She was astonished, then, when her application was refused. Dave stepped in, got to know Rachel and her business and lent her the money. The new shop front is now finished, business has improved and Rachel has never missed a repayment. Meanwhile, her old ‘caring’ bank has told her that any future loan inquiries should be directed to its head office . . . in Glasgow. Dave is an energetic, straight-talking 41-year-old. Born into a poor but hardworking Burnley family, he left school at 16, making his first million in his 20s. He is passionate about his home town – and determined to prove that it is possible for a bank to be fair and still turn a profit When he lends money, he charges 8.9 per cent to borrowers with a good credit record and investors make five per cent on their savings. They are not the cheapest loan deals on the market but, unlike the big banks, Dave is at least lending, the rates allow him to give savers a good return and his profits go to charit At the Bank of Dave, which opened in September, only one borrower has defaulted so far. Savings are pouring in and there is a waiting list for investors. The bank is taking in about £25,000 a week and giving out about the same in loans. The £10,000 accrued in the first six months has been divided equally between five local charities Dave gets to know all his customers and gives them advice, just like bank managers used to do. ‘Banking is not rocket science,’ he says. ‘The banks have been ripping people off for years. They used to have a responsibility to serve their clients. Now they just serve themselves. It’s like a private club. ‘They gambled away billions of pounds of our money and we bailed them out with billions more. And they still pay themselves obscene bonuses and refuse to lend money to businesses fighting for their lives. It’s disgusting. When the banks lend, they turn £10 into £20 without doing anything. But if it goes wrong, they are bailed out by the taxpayer and the rest of us have to take the hit. How is that right?’ The Bank of England base rate – the interest rate that the Bank of England charges banks – has been 0.5 per cent since March 2009 yet small businesses can pay more than 25 per cent for loans, even more for unsecured ones and an eye-watering 3,000 per cent for ‘pay-day’ loans. Meanwhile, savers, who always suffer when the base rate is low, are receiving as little as 0.05 per cent interest, with an estimated £100 billion sitting in accounts paying nothing at allDave resolved never to lend money his bank didn’t have and to guarantee every penny of his customers’ deposits personally. He believed he could achieve his goal with ‘hard graft and a bucketful of common sense’.He is not trying to compete with the big banks on large-scale finance but he does believe that there is a need for genuine community banks. Burnley has some fine Victorian buildings and a few pockets of prosperity. But the atmosphere on the streets and in the cafes is gloomy. Many of its high-street outlets, including TJ Hughes, Miss Selfridge and HMV, have closed in recent years, and in March a proposed £40 million development was scrapped because of a lack of interest from retailers. In the nearby village of Sabden, Keith and Christine Turner, an experienced caterer, run a cafe called Sanwitches, a name that nods at the ancient tales of sorcery on nearby Pendle Hill. They started the business after Keith was made redundant from his job in local government. At first it was a struggle. The couple needed more space and equipment. They asked their bank for a loan but were turned down. They went to the Bank of Dave and were lent £8,500.But as well as the money, they were given advice on marketing and advertising their high-quality food. Dave took them out to local business parks where he encouraged them to offer office lunches and conference meals. And when a large construction project began nearby, he suggested the couple take tea and bacon sandwiches to the builders to encourage them into the cafe. It worked ‘We couldn’t have done it without the loan and Dave’s advice,’ says Keith. ‘It’s opened our eyes to what can be done. When the bank turned us down we didn’t know whether we would be able to carry on with the business.’Although customers call the business the Bank of Dave, and although it offers banking services, Dave is not allowed to call it a bank. This is because he is still waiting for a bank licence, which can take years to obtain. Without it, he cannot use the word ‘deposits’ and can talk only about ‘achieving five per cent on savings’.‘The bankers who gambled away billions of pounds of our money have got off scot-free, and yet I can be taken to court if I call my business a bank or use the word deposits,’ he says, exasperated.Obtaining a bank licence is a numbingly complicated, time-consuming and expensive process. Only one has been granted in the UK in the past 100 years, to Metro Bank in 2010, which was backed by an American bank with more than $50 million of assets.The legal restriction explains the slightly eccentric sign above his premises that says ‘Bank on Dave!’, a slogan rather than a name. The business’s official name is on the window: Burnley Savings and Loans. So is a slogan referring to the banks of yesteryear: ‘Captain Mainwaring old-fashioned values.’ (Mainwaring, from Dad’s Army, was a notably cautious bank manager in the fictional town of Walmington-on-Sea.) ‘Our customers couldn’t care less what we are called,’ says Dave. ‘They know they are getting a fair deal. Our computer doesn’t say no.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2163604/Dave-Fishwick-How-self-millionaire-helped-firms-unable-loans-home-town.html

There is another way

[weslgarlic]

Once upon a time, in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.

The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10.

And, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at $20 for a monkey.

This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each, and the supply of monkeys became so small that it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35, and when the man returns from the City, you can sell them to him for $50 each."

The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man nor his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere!

Now you have a better understanding of how Wall Street works!!

[The Rover]

The "game" is rigged for CEO's.

That's reality on this planet.

Whatya gonna do ? ? ? ?

Refuse to work for any company that has such a disparity of wages.

[chillumpuffer]

Welcome to the politics of Capitalism

[SteveAJones]

Welcome to the politics of Capitalism

So let me guess, the solution is more government intrusion into the free market?

[Charles J. White]

My family was from a shite town in the North West of Cape Breton Island. The North West was all about fishing, and the North East of the Island was all about mining. There wasn’t much of a future. Generation after generation of men either became fishermen or miners. What happened to the North of England in the early 1980’s was the same thing which hit Cape Breton Island in the early 1990’s.

If a man is never satisfied with being an equal in poverty , willing to work at a skill set, and prepared to take opportunity when it presents itself (what some call luck) instead of accepting the path that has been laid out for him, a man can find himself enjoying the fruits of capitalism.

Being wealthy is nothing to be ashamed of, being mortgage free and owning your own home is something to aspire to, not criticize.

I don't like the idea that we should be picking on wealthy people because someone else is earning less money.

[SteveAJones]

I don't like the idea that we should be picking on wealthy people because someone else is earning less money.

Me neither and the beauty of the free market is it is a self-correcting mechanism. Unprofitable companies who pay their CEOs 500 times more than the rank & file ultimately fail and go out of business. Only the government could concoct "too big to fail" and other schemes that violate free market principles.

[weslgarlic]

Banking Crisis?

The current banking crisis explained by an Irishman

Young Paddy bought a donkey from a farmer for £100. The farmer

agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad

news. The donkey's died.'

Paddy replied, 'Well then just give me my money back.'

The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I've already spent it.'

Paddy said, 'OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'

The farmer asked, 'What are you going to do with him?'

Paddy said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'

The farmer said, 'You can't raffle a dead donkey!'

Paddy said, 'Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's

dead.'

A month later, the farmer met up with Paddy and asked, 'What happened

with that dead donkey?'

Paddy said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at £2 each and made

a profit of £898'

The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'

Paddy said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his £2 back.'

Paddy now works for the Royal Bank of Scotland .

[greenman]

Most sports coaches are on short contracts , some very well paid , they get paid off if they don't succeed and get fired , quite often walking into another position at another club

They do generally get fired if they don't suceed though and there future contracts will likely be based on some form of previous sucess(or lack of it).

Not that I wouldnt criticize greed in the sports world of course but there is the arguement that pay is generally dependant on performance or at least the ability to earn the organisation money. At the top of the business world(espeically the finanical world) I think its much more a case of connections, politics and often shear luck desiding who rises to the top, a closed shop of "big names" that hands out contracts to those who've already got their foot in the door reguardless of previous sucess.

[cryingbluerain]

While we're on this topic, let's not forget the GM bailout or more accurately the UAW bailout.

Crony capitalism at its best..

[Charles J. White]

"Crony capitalism" is central planning, central planning, central planning is a planned outcome, planned outcome is economic socialism. It upsets me that people use the word capitalism when it simply is not the right word to use at all.

[weslgarlic]

Next boss gives away £2.4m bonus to staff

Lord Wolfson shares bonus with 19,400 employees who have worked for the retailer since 2010, averaging about £124 each

Lord Wolfson, CEO of Next. As well as sharing his bonus with his staff, the retailer's annual report showed he booked a pay rise of 13%. Photograph: Rex Features

Lord Wolfson, the chief executive of retailer Next, has gifted a £2.4m bonus to staff – although he still booked a 13% hike in his own pay.

In an email sent to staff on Tuesday, Wolfson said 19,400 employees who had worked for the group since 2010 would share his bonus award, a move that averages out at £124 each.

"Three years ago the Next PLC board awarded me an incentive scheme called a Share Matching Plan (SMP)," Wolfson wrote. "The exceptional gain in our share price has meant that this award has now become more valuable than I could possibly have expected. As I am a shareholder, I have also greatly benefited from the increase in our share price.

"So this year, instead of accepting this reward, I have asked the Board if they will share it out between all the people who have worked for the company during the three year SMP qualifying period. You, and all employees who have been working at Next since June 2010, will be included."

Wolfson said the payments, which would arrive as a one-off in July pay packets, would be worth around 1% of salary to staff – which comes after employees were awarded a 2% pay rise last year.

He added: "I hope you will accept this additional bonus as a gesture of thanks and appreciation from the company, for the hard work and commitment you have given to Next over the past three years and through some very tough times. I remain very grateful for the way in which everyone has helped to navigate our business through this recession."

The Tory peer and Conservative party donor's gesture to staff was revealed in the company's annual report, which also showed that Wolfson had booked a pay rise of 13% to £4.6m in the 12 months to January 2013.

Wolfson also forfeited a further £327,000, which was due under a long-term incentive plan that was capped at £2.5m.

However, during the financial year Next shares rose by almost 55%, as the retailer reported a 3.1% increase in revenues to £3.5bn with pre-tax profits up 9% to £622m.

The performance came against a backdrop of a struggling retail sector, which appeared to have a greater impact on other

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/16/next-boss-gives-away-bonus