The bank was accused of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” by union Unite after announcing plans to make members either pay into the scheme or take a smaller annual pension when retiring.

About a third of HSBC’s 58,000 UK staff qualify for the final-salary scheme. The rest enjoy a defined-contribution scheme.

Deputy general secretary Graham Goddard said Unite had not been consulted. “The proposals will come as a slap in the face for long-serving employees,” he said.

“HSBC is citing financial justification for the changes when it made profits of £13billion.”

HSBC said it was substantially increasing the money it paid into the defined-contribution scheme, enhancing benefits for nearly 40,000 staff.

A spokesman said it had been forced into changing the final-salary scheme because people were living longer.

Unite said it was now consulting members to see how they wanted to take things forward. HSBC shares rose 4fp to 836bp.

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