HSBC is scrapping a $26,000 perk that gave bankers in Hong Kong subsidised access to members’ clubs, as the bank cuts back on benefits for employees in the former British territory. Mid-level and more senior bankers will from January lose a benefit that saw the bank cover 50 per cent of the joining fee of a Hong Kong club up to HK$200,000 (about US$26,000), staff were told in an email on Thursday, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Members’ clubs are a historic part of Hong Kong’s social and professional life, often used as places for meetings as well as for spending time with family at weekends. The perk was one of the benefits offered to HSBC bankers as part of a package to attract them to work in the Chinese territory. The perk is being phased out for bankers at band GCB4 — an internal rank that refers to mid-level financiers — and their more senior colleagues.

The move is part of an attempt to more closely align the benefits on offer to bankers at HSBC and their counterparts at local lender Hang Seng, which the UK bank took private this year in a $14bn deal, according to one person familiar with the change. Senior HSBC bankers will still benefit from other club-related perks in the territory, according to a person familiar with the matter. The overhaul of benefits will also allow the bank to offer improved life and health insurance to staff following the cuts to school and club subsidies.

The news follows an announcement last week by the bank that new bankers in Hong Kong would not benefit from subsidised school fees, a longstanding perk capped at US$38,000 per year. Since taking over in 2024, chief executive Georges Elhedery has embarked on a restructuring that includes shutting HSBC’s equity capital markets and merger and acquisition advisory businesses in the US and Europe, as well as pulling out of some markets entirely.