HSBC chief's 'golden goodbye' package could hit £23m

HSBC boss Stephen Geoghegan could receive a "golden goodbye" of up to £23 million when he walks away from the bank next March, reports suggest.

Geoghegan resigned as chief executive on Friday after losing out on the chairmanship of the bank to Scots-born Douglas Flint, currently its chief financial officer. Flint will replace Stephen Green as chairman in December; Stuart Gulliver will replace Geoghegan on New Year's Day.

The bank is set to launch an inquiry amid complaints from shareholders over the way it handled the succession process, with reports in the days preceding the announcement that Geoghegan had threatened to resign on learning that he would not be the new chairman.

Geoghegan will remain at the bank until March in an advisory role before leaving with a package including salary, bonuses, pension and share awards that reports claim could reach 23m.

Geoghegan - who has given previous bonuses to charity - is believed to be in line for a package that includes a compensation payment of 1.42m; 2010 salary and benefits of more than 1.37m; more than 6m worth of shares that he already owns and up to 11m from long-term incentive plans. He also has a pension worth around 15m which he bought out of the company four years ago.

Gulliver was paid bonuses of 9m last year on top of an 800,000 salary - his salary will now rise to 1.25m.

The rewards come just months after more than one-fifth of HSBC shareholders voted against the bank's remuneration report due to misgivings over an 800,000 Hong Kong relocation package for Geoghegan.