HSBC & Barclays’ highest-paid bankers saw payouts surge past £16m after UK lifted post-crisis bonus cap.

The removal of the UK’s banker bonus cap has led to record-breaking pay at Barclays and HSBC, where top executives pocketed their largest payouts since 2014.

Annual pay disclosures show HSBC’s highest-paid banker earned between €19m-€20m (£16.6m) in 2024, up from a maximum of €13m the year before. At Barclays, a top banker received €17m-€18m (£14.8m), surpassing the £10.5m paid to CEO CS Venkatakrishnan.

The figures mark a more than 50% rise in top banker pay, highlighting the impact of looser post-Brexit rules that now allow bonuses worth up to 10 times base salary. The cap, originally introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, had limited bonuses to twice salary to curb excessive risk-taking.

However, critics argued the cap put UK banks at a disadvantage compared to US firms. In 2022, then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng pushed for its removal, with regulators officially scrapping it in 2023. Goldman Sachs, one of the policy’s biggest backers, now allows UK bankers to earn bonuses of up to 25 times their salary.

HSBC defended its decision, saying the revised structure enables it to reward “exceptional performance” for frontline roles. Barclays saw its number of €1m+ earners rise from 668 in 2023 to 762 in 2024, while HSBC’s total climbed from 512 to 517.

The surge in pay is expected to intensify the debate over banker compensation, particularly at a time when household incomes remain under pressure.