Barclays and HSBC to anger public of bonuses

It seems now that Barclays (LON:BARC) and HSBC (LON:HSBA) will cause more trouble over banker’s pay tomorrow when they are likely to report strong third quarter results and bumper bonuses to match.

Both banks avoided taking Government cash to survive the global financial crisis however that will not be enough to protect either from criticism over the level of bonuses to top staff. Barclays, is set to pay out £5bn in salaries and bonuses this year. John Varley the chief executive of Barclays is expected to pre-empt demands by the Financial Services Authority by paying bonuses largely in shares rather than cash.

Top bankers expect bonuses in line with their industry peers, and a headache for the board of both Barclays and HSBC is that, investment banking profits have grown rapidly in 2009. To read more on this story go to cityam.com.