The HSBC annual report for 2015 lacks details about the amounts paid to board members, saying only fees amounting to €211,000 were paid to its seven non-executive directors.

The directors employed with the bank or with HSBC Group were not paid fees for their directorship, but their package was usually shown as part of the ‘emoluments’, a minority shareholder said. The bank has nine board members, three of whom – including the chief executive officer – are bank employees.

However, the emoluments are not given in this year’s report. The shareholder said this meant he could not know what part of the bank’s escalating costs was made up of the remuneration packages of foreign executives. The emoluments were given in the reports for the previous four years at least, with the €1 million paid in 2011 growing to €1.48 million before dropping to €958,000 in 2014.

The shareholder, who preferred to remain anonymous, is incensed because the bank paid €14.7 million last year to reduce its headcount by about 130 through an early retirement scheme, having also paid millions of euros in previous years. Last year, the number of employees actually went up by 25, including 15 new positions for executives and senior managers.

The report shows there are now 16 senior managers who earn a total of €3.9 million and 50 non-senior managers, classified as “material risk takers”, who earn €3.86 million.

If I bought BOV shares and HSBC shares in 2000… the BOV shares would now be worth 77 per cent more, while HSBC’s would only be worth four per cent more

The shareholder believes this is why the bank’s total employee remuneration bill for 2015 was €68.5 million, up from €51.7 million a year before.

He noted that the bank’s profits were dropping dramatically, from €95.3 million in 2012 to €46.8 million last year while costs rose six per cent (excluding the early retirement scheme).

In fact, its cost-to-efficiency ratio had also risen from 48.7 per cent to 59 per cent.

“We have been repeatedly told that this is all because of the local context, lower interest rates, regulatory costs and higher compliance. And, yet, Bank of Valletta’s profits went up by 83 per cent while HSBC’s fell 47 per cent. And this is all being reflected in the share price

“If I bought BOV shares and HSBC shares in 2000 – just after the latter took over from Mid-Med – the BOV shares would now be worth 77 per cent more, while those of HSBC would only be worth four per cent more.

“Admittedly, there are other shareholder aspects like share issues and dividends, but there has been a decline since 2013 and BOV shares have outperformed HSBC’s since May 2013,” the shareholder said.

“We can only hope that the new CEO, Andrew Beane, will look at ways to trim the costs with the interests of minority shareholders in mind, something that the remuneration and nomination committee should also be doing as part of its remit,” he added.