The brutalist blocks of the Barbican estate in central London seem more a leftover of an era of state socialism than a fitting backdrop for a shareholder meeting of one of the world's largest banks, but perhaps the setting for HSBC's annual general meeting today reinforced shareholders' sense of injustice over the board's multi-million pound pay packages.
The new bonus plans - which could see five senior directors scoop more than £120m (â¬153m) between them if targets that the bank describes as "very stretching" are met - were eventually approved.
