Bankers earn extra £7bn for performance in bonus bonanza after firms hiked pots 5% in 2025
By GEOFF HO
Updated:
Big banks hiked their bonus pots 5 per cent to more than £7billion in 2024, their accounts revealed.
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest and Standard Chartered paid their staff a combined total of £7.1billion in bonus cash and shares for their performances last year.
That was the most for at least a decade and compares to £6.8billion for 2023 and £5.3billion in 2015. The 2024 bonus bonanza comes as banks take advantage of Britain’s decision to scrap the EU’s cap on bonuses.
Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre think-tank, said that without the cap, the increase in bankers’ bonuses was ‘inevitable’.
‘This will strengthen the argument that addressing the extreme top incomes of bankers, chief executives and other high earners and distributing the UK’s wealth more evenly is crucial to revitalising our economy,’ he added.
Last week Standard Chartered boss Bill Winters said the cap on bonuses had made bankers lazy and resulted in ‘grotesque’ increases in fixed pay.
Pay boost: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest and Standard Chartered paid their staff a combined total of £7.1bn in bonus cash and shares for their performances last year
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