Ex-Barclays pay boss attacks Diamond’s reward for failure
FORMER Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond did not deserve a bonus in 2011 because the bank gave poor returns for shareholders, former director and remuneration committee head Alison Carnwath said yesterday.
The ex-non-executive said she worked to pull down investment bank bonuses by 30 per cent, but could not rein in Diamond who, she said, valued his rewards very highly.
“Bob Diamond always enjoyed a generous pay packet and he thought he found loyalty in people around him by paying them well – in my view, paying more than he needed to,” she told the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.
And she criticised “a sense of entitlement that has emerged among many staff, particularly in the investment bank. The pay has in some cases reached obscene levels.”
Diamond’s total pay came in at £6.3m for 2011, including long-term incentive awards.
But current chair of the remuneration committee Sir John Sunderland pushed back, arguing Diamond did deserve a bonus for the year.“Since he was appointed as chief executive Bob Diamond engaged in the task with great energy, enthusiasm and skill, he was a very successful banker,” he told the commission.
“You can argue about the culture at the bank, but he was set a series of objectives for the year and he achieved many of them. The board took the view that his performance overall deserved some recognition.”