The banking group, which operates in regions including North America, has decided not to go ahead with a pay freeze this year.

HSBC will not be pressing ahead with freezing pay during 2016, media reported the bank’s chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, as saying in an internal memo, a move that overturns a decision less than a fortnight earlier.

Shares in London/Hong Kong-listed HSBC actually rose today in London trading time; around 11:40 GMT in the UK, they were up around 2.4 per cent. Bank stocks have been pummelled for much of the week. Bank stocks generally rose in Europe’s market session, boosted by a return to profit by Germany’s Commerzbank.

According to Reuters, Gulliver said in his memo that he was cautious about HSBC’s revenue outlook for 2016. The bank is also due to shortly discuss whether to shift its corporate headquarters to Hong Kong – as has been speculated on in recent months – or remain in London. The bank said last year it was considering a possible move, citing concerns about the UK government’s levy on banks and the risks of Britain leaving the European Union.

Pay rises will be funded from a bonus pool originally intended for payments to be made in 2017, the memo from Gulliver to all employees and dated February 11, is reported to have said.

A hiring freeze introduced in the fourth quarter of 2015 will remain in place, reports said.

The bank plans annual cost savings of up to $5 billion by 2017.

"As flagged in our Investor Update we have targeted significant cost reductions by the end of 2017," HSBC said in an emailed statement to Family Wealth Report today when asked about the matter. It did not comment directly on the contents of Gulliver’s memo, or confirm the accuracy of other media reports of the matter.

Gulliver is reported to have said that following feedback on the pay freeze and the way it was communicated, he had "decided to change the way these cost savings are to be achieved".

"We will therefore proceed with the pay rises as originally proposed by managers as part of the 2015 pay review, noting that, consistent with prior years, not all staff will receive a pay rise,” he said.

HSBC has shut booking centres in countries such as Turkey and Brazil, and refocused business on regions such as Asia that are seen, despite recent wobbles, as offering more growth potential in the long run. The bank has also been seeking to recover from media and political storms last year around its Geneva-headquartered Swiss private bank, from which thousands of client account details were taken by a former employee. That saga exposed the bank to charges it was holding secret accounts, although HSBC says many of those affected accounts had been closed as far back as the 1990s, and that it has instituted thorough reforms.