Barclays boss banked £63.3m pay packet

Published on Saturday 20 March 2010 19:34

ONE of Britain's highest-paid bankers pocketed £63.3 million last year.

Politicians say the figures demonstrate Britain's major banks have failed to adopt a culture of restraint following the global financial crisis.

Barclays President Bob Diamond's package includes a basic salary, a performance-related package, share benefits and other perks.

And he has been handed a new three-year share incentive scheme which could earn the American executive another 18m.

Diamond, 58, who also runs the investment banking division, Barclays Capital, made almost 27m from shares in Barclays Global Investors, an investment division that was sold for 9.4 billion.

The bank's annual report disclosed that Diamond, who is paid 384,000 a year in salary and perks, had a performance-related package of up to 5.56 million shares, worth nearly 20m.

Diamond, who waived bonus entitlements last year, receives 8.4m in shares from a 2009 incentive package and a 7.7m award from an earlier plan.

Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle said: "The country as a whole will be disgusted. Far from there being restraint, it looks like the excesses have gone beyond all comprehension and decency."

Unlike Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, Barclays has not taken direct injections of cash from the Treasury. But it has benefited from Bank of England guarantees and support for firms' finances.

Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: "This particular gentleman is trying to build the biggest investment bank in the world on the back of the taxpayer."

Last month Barclays staff were awarded a total bonus pot of 2.7bn after the bank reported pre-tax profits of 11.6bn.

Last week Barclaycard announced the closure of a call centre in Glasgow with the loss of 350 jobs.

Most of the work of loan centre Barclays Partner Finance in Glasgow will move to Cardiff this summer.