Britain's bank chiefs line up £15m bonanza in bonuses

The chief executives of Barclays, HSBC, part-nationalised banks Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland, and Standard Chartered have previously waived their payments or donated them to charity, but this year are said to be minded to keep the money.

The controversial move comes as the same chief executives are understood to be in discussions over a joint plan to cut the bonus pool and boost lending to small businesses in a bid to temper public anger.

Bankers' pay packets are continuing to recover to pre-credit crunch levels. A study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) – which took into account all City workers including fund managers and staff working with equities and bonds – forecast the total bonus pot to hit 7bn this year alone. But pressure on the banking sector to lower the pooled bonus pot is mounting from politicians and business ahead of January's bonus round.

Chancellor George Osborne was recently accused of a U-turn over plans to force banks to reveal the number of staff paid more than 1m, while Business Secretary Vince Cable renewed his attack on City bonuses on Friday, saying he was "not persuaded" banks realised they needed to limit bonuses, and added excessive payouts remained a "major irritant".

City bonuses are expected to be down sharply this year because of a steep drop in profits at most investment banks. But the bonuses paid to the chief executives are linked to a broader set of targets.

Stephen Hester, chief executive of RBS is in line for a bonus of up to 2.4m, while Eric Daniels, the outgoing chief executive of Lloyds, could receive up to 2.3m.

HSBC's departing chief executive, Michael Geoghegan, is entitled to a bonus up to four times his salary, while outgoing boss of Barclays John Varley could land a bonus close to 3m. Peter Sands at Standard Chartered could receive up to 3.2m.