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Bloomberg
HSBC Holdings’s UK arm is the latest bank to help staff cope with the rising cost of living by making an extra one-time payment.
Lower-paid employees will receive the £1,500 ($1,836) boost in their August paychecks, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News.
All five of the UK’s largest retail banks have now pledged to pay staff more as household incomes are squeezed by inflation that has hit a four-decade high.
Banco Santander SA’s UK unit said it will give 11,000 employees a 4% pay rise and Barclays Plc has promised to boost pay by £1,200 for 35,000 UK-based staff. NatWest Group Plc, meanwhile, is giving 22,000 staff an average pay rise of around £1,000 from September and Lloyds Banking Group Plc said it will pay staff an additional £1,000 this summer.
The payments come as the Bank of England looks set to accelerate the pace of interest-rate hikes this week in a bid to reel in prices that are rising at the fastest pace since 1982.