Barclays chief lands £18m windfall
Barclays investment banking chief Rich Ricci landed an £18m windfall today after the bank handed out mammoth share awards to top bosses.
Mr Ricci’s multimillion-pound pay day came as he sold a 5.7 million tranche of shares given to him by the bank for previous annual bonuses and long-term incentive schemes, despite waiving a bonus for 2012.
Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins, who also agreed not to take a bonus for last year, picked up 1.8 million shares worth £6 million and immediately sold half – netting him £2.9m.
Barclays added that the sale of shares by Mr Jenkins today was made to meet tax liabilities on the award.
This follows a £2.6m total pay package paid to Mr Jenkins last year, including a £1.5m long-term incentive bonus due to pay out in future years if he meets performance targets.
Nine executives in total received share fortunes worth a combined £40m today in what is likely to stoke further controversy over pay deals at the bank following its Libor rate rigging scandal and mis-selling controversies.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said the Barclays share awards make a “complete mockery of any claims that banks are cleaning up their acts when it comes to bonuses”.
He added: “Staff in branches and call centres up and down the country want to get on but many continue to struggle on low pay.
“Meanwhile, senior bankers who were at or near the helm during the scandals that have rocked Britain’s banks behave like nothing has changed.”
The timing of the announcement to coincide with the Budget also attracted criticism, although Barclays claimed it planned today’s release months before the Chancellor set the date.
Details of the share awards come after Barclays revealed in its annual report earlier this month that 428 workers were paid more than £1m last year, including five who got more than £5m despite a year of scandal and falling profits.
The report also highlighted a widening pay gap at the bank as it showed there were more than 71,500 staff who received less than £25,000 last year.
Barclays stressed that today’s share awards were for deferred annual bonus payouts from previous years and long-term incentive schemes.
A Barclays spokesman said: “Barclays has revised its remuneration policy and all future incentive awards, short and long-term, will be based on the new principles that have been set out.”
