HSBC strike 'deeply regrettable': Chairman

British bank HSBC today branded a nationwide strike by thousands of staff as “deeply regrettable”.

Chairman John Bond told the bank’s annual meeting that it recognised the right of staff to take the strike action, which is the biggest against a leading bank for more than eight years.

But he claimed only 4% of the bank’s staff in the UK had voted to strike, and said the action could harm the bank’s business. He also claimed that 96% of the company’s staff had turned in for work today.

“We recognise the right of employees to take strike action,” he said. “However, it is deeply regrettable that 4% of our staff would vote for action to disrupt customer service and potentially damage our business.

“I thank the 96% of our colleagues who are hard at work today to ensure that all our branches remain open.”

The strike action by members of the Amicus trade union is being taken against HSBC’s decision to impose a pay deal on its staff in the UK.

The union claimed that 10% of staff would receive no pay rise this year and that a further 45% would get increases below the rate of inflation.

Union activists handed out packets of peanuts to shareholders outside the meeting to mark their anger at what they described as “a derisory pay offer”.

Bond told the meeting that 60% of its clerical staff were on better-than-market salaries.

He said the bank had therefore decided that it should channel pay rises to those on lower salaries to bring them up to market levels.

“Only 1% of our staff received no pay rise and no bonus and most of them because of unsatisfactory performance,” he said.

But one shareholder criticised Bond’s own pay package last year, which rose to £3.6m (€5.2m) from £2.1m (€3m) the year before.

The shareholder said Bond was “now winning the lottery at the weekend as well as during the week”.

“You got £3.6m (€5.2m) including bonuses as your salary last year, but none of your staff have had anywhere near double figures in their pay rises,” the shareholder said.

Bond defended his rise, saying the bank had taken into account its 37% rise in annual profits to £9.18bn (€13.4bn) last year and its successful expansion strategy in the US in determining his rise.