Investors urged to vote against Barclays pay proposals

6th Apr 2023 12:35

(Sharecast News) - Glass Lewis, the US proxy advisor, has recommended shareholders vote against Barclays' pay proposals for its top executives.

In February, the lender announced it was docking the pay of some senior executives by a combined £1m after the blue chip was fined by US authorities.

The 2022 bonus for chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan was cut by £403,000, while group finance director Anna Cross was docked £166,000. Former finance chief Tushar Morzaria, who retired last April, also had a long-term award reduced.

But in a report on Thursday, Glass Lewis argued that a near-£3m long-term award which vested last year for 2020 for Morzaria should also have been reduced, "to better reflect the financial and reputational impact of the risk and control issues over the period".

Barclays has been hit by a number of compliance issues in recent years. Former chief executive Jes Staley was forced to step down in November 2021 over his links to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein while he was at JP Morgan. Staley has repeatedly denied any involvement or knowledge of Epstein's alleged crimes.

Last year Barclays agreed to pay $361m to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and set aside £450m to compensate investors after failings going back several years meant it accidentally sold structured financial products it was not authorised for. And it was one of a number of banks fined by the SEC and Commodities Futures Trading Commission for employees' unauthorised use of encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp.

Barclays' annual general meeting will be held on 3 May in London.

Barclays did not immediately respond to a request to comment.