In Short

A round-up of today's business news stories in brief

CEO of Europe's biggest bank awarded £1.5m in shares

Europe’s biggest bank, has awarded shares worth £1.5 million ($2.3 million) to chief executive Michael Geoghegan under a long-term bonus plan for executives.

Mr Geoghegan and five other executives received about 818,000 shares worth some £5.5 million, or 38 per cent of the maximum they could have received under a three-year incentive plan that vested this week.

HSBC said in a regulatory filing that Mr Geoghegan was awarded 282,440 shares as part of the incentive plan, 38 per cent of the maximum award.

The shares closed at 675p each yesterday. Bank pay is under intense scrutiny and Swiss rival Credit Suisse fuelled public anger about excessive payouts on Wednesday by awarding ceo Brady Dougan shares worth more than $66 million under a five-year bonus plan.

Clarifications

• An article yesterday headlined "WorldSpreads yet to change name" said privately owned WorldSpreads Ireland, bought from WorldSpreads plc on December 22nd last must stop using the WorldSpreads name within five months of the deal being completed. The company has asked us to clarify that this period expires on May 22nd next. The article did not intend to inply that WorldSpreads Ireland had broken a condition of sale.

• An article headlined "Examiner appointed to print firm" in last Saturday's edition incorrectly stated that the High Court has appointed David Carson of Deloitte as examiner to Future Print. Mr Carson has been nominated as examiner. The petition will only be heard on April 13th.

• An article in yesterday's editions incorrectly stated that Australian bank, Macquarie, has agreed to extend a $500 million debt facility to exploration group, Petroneft. The figure should have read $5 million. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.