Standard Chartered said it would not pay a dividend for 2016 due to restructuring costs, but increased its staff bonus pool by 5%.
The bonus boost, which chief executive Bill Winters said was needed to motivate and retain staff, came as the UK lender swung back to a pretax profit of $409m for 2016.
This comes a year after reporting its first loss in more than a quarter of a century.
The move comes after rival lenders reported shrinking bonus pools due to underwhelming results.
"We continue to ensure that our pay remains competitive, and rewarding good performance. We had a meaningful improvement in performance, so we concluded that this small increase was appropriate," Winters said.
The bank's CEO said that despite the rise, compensation was still about 27% lower than what the bank paid out in dollar terms in 2012.
StanChart will not pay a dividend for 2016 to shareholders as its restructuring is not complete and the bank faces regulatory uncertainty, its chief financial officer Andy Halford said.
Today's profit result beat the $366m expected by analysts, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Since taking the helm in June 2015, Winters has announced plans to axe more than 15,000 jobs, closed the bank's stock trading business and overhauled its management team as he seeks to restore a slimmed-down StanChart to growing profitability.
The former JPMorgan executive has expressed dissatisfaction with the bank's performance, last November branding its income and profit levels unacceptable as it missed out on bumper trading profits reaped by rivals more focused on the US and Europe.
"Our financial returns are not yet where they need to be and do not reflect the group's earnings potential," Winters said in today's results statement.
Previous StanChart chairman John Peace said last year Standard Chartered would risk a staff exodus if it cut bonuses, responding to investor anger over high pay when the bank is not paying a dividend.
It said in November 2015 that it was scrapping its final dividend.
Winters himself received total pay for 2016 of £3.4m, excluding an additional long term incentive plan if performance targets are met.
A total of 139 employees earned over €1m, with the highest earning between €6-7m, according to the bank's statement.
StanChart reported a $215m loss from its stake in Indonesian lender PT Bank Permata due to rising bad loans and restructuring costs.
StanChart is seeking to reduce its interests in the Southeast Asian country to a single entity to comply with regulations, either by merging its branch with Permata or selling its stake in the local lender.
Indonesian tycoon Tahir last month expressed interest in buying all of Permata, starting with StanChart's stake.
