Investor fury over HSBC executive pay

London: HSBC Holdings executives faced investor anger yesterday over lacklustre returns and high executive pay, prompting chairman Douglas Flint to admit performance had been disappointing.

Europe’s largest bank, which has started a cost-cutting drive to make bigger profits, faced a backlash over top executive rewards at its annual shareholders’ meeting, even if a remuneration plan won the backing of some former critics.

Yet a fifth of shareholders refused to back the plan, which includes lower caps on long-term incentive share payouts, despite a year of lobbying by HSBC, marking stronger opposition over pay than faced by its British peers.