HSBC investment bank chief holds £30m shares pot

Stuart Gulliver, the chief executive of HSBC's investment bank, has been awarded shares worth £29.5m over the past five years.

The world's third-biggest bank - behind Citigroup and Bank of America - was forced to disclose details of Mr Gulliver's shareholdings after his appointment to the boards of its four main operating subsidiaries.

Mr Gulliver already owns 1,192,383 shares. A deferred bonus of a further 1,485,089 will typically divest over three years, regardless of the bank's performance.

Some 382,920 more will divest conditional on HSBC meeting certain targets linked to total shareholder return. His son, a minor, owns 433 shares. HSBC shares closed at 963.5p yesterday.

The disclosure underscores Mr Gulliver's position as one of London's best-paid bankers. Last year's £15m pay-and-bonus package of Bob Diamond, head of Barclays Capital, Barclays' investment bank, was made public after he joined the main board of Britain's third-biggest bank.

Mr Gulliver assumed sole control of corporate, investment banking and markets in May after the former Morgan Stanley rainmaker, John Studzinski, was sidelined. He manages business that accounted for about of quarter of the group's overall profits in the first half of this year.

His share package, which does not include his salary, cash bonus or share options, is bigger than those of HSBC's chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, and its chairman, Stephen Green.

Mr Gulliver has been with HSBC for 26 years and ran the treasury and capital markets in the Asia-Pacific region from 1992 to 2002, when he became head of global markets.