Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVB UK), the UK arm of the troubled bank, has awarded millions of pounds in bonuses to staff and board members, just days after the institution was bailed out by HSBC for a nominal £1.
According to unnamed sources cited by Sky News, HSBC UK signed the bonus payouts earlier this week, with a total pool of £15 million to £20 million. Insiders stated that the bonus payments were intended to honour previous agreements and retain key staff.
According to the report, it remained uncertain on March 18 how much the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVB UK), Erin Platts, and her senior colleagues had received in bonuses after the takeover of the bank by HSBC UK on March 13.
In addition, an insider noted that these payments were a way for HSBC to show confidence in SVB UK’s talent base. Despite the payouts, the report also noted that the shares held by senior executives and other employees of SVB UK had become worthless as a result of the bank’s dangerous close call for bankruptcy.
After being active in the UK for around 14 years, SVB UK announced on their Twitter account earlier this week that they were overjoyed to be part of the huge HSBC organisation now.
This comes in the wake of an announcement from the Bank of England (BoE), which stated its intention to close the SVB bank in the UK. In addition, the BoE stated that it had a “limited presence” and did not perform “critical functions” for the financial system in the United Kingdom.
