HSBC Bangladesh CEO’s salary remains stratospheric despite 23% drop

HSBC Bank Bangladesh in 2021 spent 23 percent less on average monthly salary and allowance for its chief executive officer (CEO).

Although the salary was down from the previous year, it remains a whopping Tk 36,11,086 per month for the position. It was Tk 47,03,379 per month the previous year.

According to the bank’s latest financial report, HSBC (Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation), one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations, paid its CEO a total of Tk 43,333,037 in 2021.

The bank had spent Tk 5,64,40,549 in 2020, and Tk 8,82,56,453 in 2019 as salary and allowances for its CEO.

In April 2020, Md Mahbub ur Rahman, was appointed as the CEO of HSBC Bangladesh for its local operations. He became the first Bangladeshi to helm the position. He succeeded Francois de Maricourt, who was appointed in the position in 2015.

Paying hefty compensation to CEOs is a common practice across the world. It is also a normal corporate practice to pay a higher salary to foreign nationals.

Moreover, the salary structure is usually high in international organisations. The drop in CEO’s salary posted in HSBC’s financial report seemed to correlate to its appointing of a local CEO.

Among local banks, Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) CEO’s monthly salary in 2019 was Tk 20.52 lakh, followed by Mutual Trust Bank at Tk 19.39 lakh, EXIM Bank at Tk 16.97 lakh, and SIBL at Tk 16.63 lakh, according to media reports.

However, these figures look extremely high when banks recently sought more time to implement the minimum wage set for private bank employees by the Bangladesh Bank.

The central bank on January 20 fixed the minimum monthly salaries of trainee officers to at least Tk 28,000 during entry and a minimum of Tk 24,000 for other employees.