HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver is in line to get a pay deal worth around £7 million, including a £1.8m bonus, according to reports.

That would be slightly lower than the £7.4m total Mr Gulliver received for 2012 and comes as HSBC is expected to report a rise in pre-tax profits when it publishes results for 2013 today.

The total bonus pool across the bank is likely to be in the region of £2.4 billion, up from £2.2bn.

At the moment, Mr Gulliver receives a basic salary of £1.25m.

A new European Union bonus cap, which Britain is so far resisting, will mean from 2015 that bonuses cannot be more than a fixed salary unless shareholders agree to approve a larger payment.