Richard Murphy tells us gleefully that HSBC retreats on chief’s pay award. He's delighted that HSBC has decided not to increase its chief executive's pay by a third.

HSBC didn't take a penny of stimulus money. So, what it pays its staff is its business, not Murphy's. While one could argue (very weakly, in my view) that HSBC has benefited from the stabilisation afforded by the stimulus, I'm sure a well-run bank like HSBC would rather have had no boom and bust, just like we were promised by Gordon Brown.

Also, let's not forget that wages are taxed more highly than corporate profits. Accordingly the UK will lose tax as a result of this change of heart. Nice one, Richard.

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Filed under: Corporate governance, Economics, Taxation with tags banks, deficit, hsbc, idiots, richard murphy