Search: Barclays annual profits
More than 23,000 investment bankers at Barclays pocketed an average £191,000 in pay and bonuses as the banking giant surged to record profits of £11.6 billion last year, it has emerged.
The payouts provoked anger despite chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond sacrificing bonuses for the second year in a row in a bid to pacify clients and shareholders hit by recession.
Barclays beat City expectations with a 92% jump in pre-tax profits - helped by the sale of its fund management arm and a bumper haul from investment banking arm Barclays Capital. Shares in the company jumped as much as 9% following the better-than-expected performance.
The bank acknowledged the "intense public interest and concern" over pay and said the share of BarCap revenues paid in salary and bonuses fell from 44% to 38% - but the total pot was almost double the previous year at £4.5 billion.
Across the whole group, Barclays paid out £2.7 billion in bonuses - £1.5 billion in cash bonuses and £1.2 billion in long-term awards vesting over three years. Of this around 80% or £2.1 billion was paid out in bonuses to investment bankers, although Barclays has "managed down" the pay pot to reflect the £225 million paid to the Treasury under the bonus tax introduced at the end of last year.
Advertisement starts
Advertisement ends
Mr Varley said the bank had "to be sensitive" about what it paid when public sector workers were facing salary freezes due to recession, but it had a responsibility to investors and clients to "field the best team".
Alongside the gesture of Mr Varley and Mr Diamond, all bonuses for other top directors will be deferred over three years and subject to clawback. Pay principles from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and G20 summit have also been implemented.
Royal Bank of Scotland - which is 84% owned by the taxpayer - is likely to use Barclays' payouts to gauge the level of its own bonuses to investment bankers, to be unveiled at annual results next week. A reported £1.3 billion payout will be hugely controversial amid a second year in a row of huge losses for the struggling bank.
Barclays turned to the Middle East instead of the taxpayer to raise emergency capital at the height of the crisis but gained from support measures for the system as a whole.
Chairman Marcus Agius said the bank would be judged by "how we lend and how we pay", adding: "We know that the impact of the credit crunch and of the subsequent recession has made the lives of millions of citizens and thousands of businesses more difficult. We know that it's our obligation to provide support in ways that are responsible."
