Barclays 'in talks' over Jenkins bonus
Scandal-hit Barclays is reportedly in talks with shareholders over plans to pay its new boss a seven-figure bonus.
Key investors are being consulted over the proposals to award Antony Jenkins a bonus worth more than £1m, despite the bank being forced to allocate almost £2bn for fines relating to rate rigging and mis-selling scandals, according to Sky News.
The outline plans for Mr Jenkins’ bonus, which would be deferred and paid in shares, are part of proposals which would see the total bonus pot at Barclays fall to between £1.5bn and £2bn, from about £2.2bn last year, according to the reports.
Mr Jenkins, who has been in post since August, was appointed to the top job after former boss Bob Diamond resigned last July, when the group was fined £290m to settle claims that it used underhand tactics to try to rig financial markets.
When Mr Jenkins was appointed it was announced he would be paid a base salary of £1.1m, with a potential annual bonus of £2.75m, and a package worth up to £8.6m a year including long-term incentives.
Executives will be particularly nervous about the reaction to this year’s bonuses after 32% of shareholders failed to back the bank’s remuneration report last year over anger at Mr Diamond’s multi-million reward.
It comes after the Financial Times said this morning that state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland was preparing to pay as much as £250m to staff in its investment bank division, which was also involved in the worldwide rate-rigging scandal.
Since his arrival, Mr Jenkins has vowed to overhaul the bank and this month he was told to sign up to an ethical code of conduct or quit, as part of the bank’s crusade to repair its battered reputation.
In a memo sent to the bank’s 140,000 employees worldwide, Mr Jenkins said performance would be judged on a set of ethical standards in an attempt to overhaul the culture in the wake of its Libor-rigging scandal.
In its latest results, the group reported a £47m quarterly loss in the three months to September, compared with a £2.4bn profit in the same quarter last year.
The loss was driven by a £700m hit to cover mis-sold PPI claims and a one-off £1bn charge against the value of the bank’s own credit.
The final bonus figure will be decided by the Barclays board when it meets ahead of Barclays’ results on February 12. Barclays declined to comment.
