Barclays awards top executives 32m pounds in shares

18th Mar 2014 14:00

Barclays has awarded its top executives nearly 32m pounds in shares, down 20 per cent on a year earlier.Head of Barclays Americas, Skip McGee, received the highest payout among the 12 executives with almost £9m worth of shares under bonus plans from prior years. However, it was well under the £17m awarded to Rich Ricci, Barclay's former Investment Bank Chief, last year.Ricci left the company a month after cashing in his stocks, leading to criticism over "fat cat" bankers. In 2013, Barclays handed nine of its executives just over £40m in shares.Eric Bommensath and Tom King, appointed as Co-Chief Executives of Corporate and Investment Banking following Ricci's departure, were given a combined £12m.This year Chief Executive, Antony Jenkins, was handed shares worth £3.8m, but sold about half of them to meet tax liabilities.The UK bank has come under fire over its decision to raise bonuses last year despite a drop in profits. The lender is also under pressure to cut costs at its investment bank. Barclays made underlying profits of £5.2bn last year, down 32% on 2012, but announced a 10% increase in its bonus pot to £2.4bn.Shares jumped 2.55% to 236.95p at 14:24 on Tuesday.RD