HSBC boss Geoghegan hands £4m bonus to charity but top 5 bankers share £38m

• Michael Geoghegan refuses rise in salary
• Bank reports 24% fall in pretax profit for 2009 to $7bn
• HSBC’s highest-paid banker gets £10m bonus

Five bankers at HSBC shared a bonus bonanza of more than £38m last year, even as the bank tried to demonstrate it was heeding public concern about City pay through a decision by its chief executive Michael Geoghegan to hand his £4m bonus to charity .

As the bank reported a 24% fall in pretax profit for 2009 to $7bn (£4.63bn), the bank’s annual report showed that the company had intended to hand the chief executive a pay rise “in light of the international competition position and the increased responsibilities”. He refused the rise in his £1m salary.

The bank outlines the five highest paid employees in its annual report to comply with Hong Kong regulations but does not need to name them. The pay of the top five is up from the £33.5m paid for 2008. The highest paid individual received £10m, the next two more than £9m each, with a payment of £5.7m to the fourth highest paid with the fifth receiving £4.3m.

While the bank does not name them, other information in the annual report suggests that one of them is Stuart Gulliver, the executive director who runs the investment bank, who received a £9m bonus. There was no information about whether Gulliver intended to follow Geoghegan, who said he would give his £4m to charities around the world between now and 2013, the period when the bonus is due.