Source: AFP
British bank Barclays’ net profits dropped 16 per cent to GBP3.0 billion (EUR3.57 billion or US$4.74 billion) in 2011 from a year earlier and cut its bonus pool by a quarter, it said on Friday.
Barclays said it was reducing the bonus pot to GBP2.15 billion, down 25 per cent compared with 2010, amid a backlash in Britain over bankers’ pay.
“I am proud of what our people at Barclays achieved in 2011,” the bank’s chief executive Bob Diamond said in the company’s results statement.
“Against the backdrop of challenging economic and market conditions, we maintained our focus on clients and customers while supporting the real economy, as well as the needs of our shareholders, colleagues and the communities in which we operate.”
“As a result, we have delivered a strong set of results, both financially and in terms of our execution priorities,” added Diamond, whose precise bonus payout was not disclosed. Reports said he would receive up to GBP3.0 million.
Despite avoiding a state bailout at the height of the financial crisis, Barclays has nevertheless faced political pressure to clamp down on excessive bankers’ pay.
At state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland, chief executive Stephen Hester has been forced to waive his GBP963,000-bonus.
Hester’s bonus ‒ following government calls for pay restraint amid ongoing austerity and economic gloom ‒ sparked outrage among trade unions and the opposition Labour Party because RBS is 82-per cent state-owned after a rescue.
Another of Britain’s state-rescued lenders, Lloyds Banking Group, has said that its boss Antonio Horta-Osorio, who returned to work in January after a two-month break due to fatigue, declined his 2011 annual bonus.
British finance minister George Osborne has meanwhile warned that a row over executive pay and bonuses threatens Britain’s fragile economic recovery.
