Bonuses worth almost ￡30m were paid to HSBC employees even though staff failed to meet performance targets on which the bonuses were supposed to be based.

汇丰去年的财务表现并不出色，不过，该公司的薪酬委员会仍批准向大约1.2万名英国员工发放这笔"酌情发放薪酬"(discretionary payments)。

The bank's remuneration committee authorised the discretionary payments to about 12,000 UK staff in spite of HSBC's lacklustre financial performance last year.

在汇丰有争议的薪酬问题曝光之前，苏格兰皇家银行(Royal Bank of Scotland)的薪酬问题也受到了英国保险协会(Association of British Insurers)的大声抨击。

News of the controversial awards follows loud criticism by the Association of British Insurers of awards at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

英国保险协会尤其对该行薪酬委员会拥有的"酌情"权限提出了批评，并希望在该行4月底召开年度股东大会之前，双方就有关问题进行谈判。

The ABI criticised in particular the level of discretion¹ available to the bank's remuneration committee and called for talks with Royal Bank of Scotland ahead of its annual general meeting at the end of April.