Bumper pay rise for Barclays chief
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The pay of Andrew Buxton, chairman of Barclays, rose 19 per cent last year to £523,000 after profit-related bonuses awarded by a remuneration committee chaired by Sir Denys Henderson, a member of the Greenbury committee on executive pay.
Mr Buxton also made a £135,000 paper profit on share options exercised during the year. Other options would give him a further profit of £450,000 at current prices.
The earnings rise came after trebled group profits, but a sharp fall at the BZW subsidiary, which halved the earnings of David Band, the group's highest paid director. Mr Band earned £776,000 excluding pension contributions, compared with £1.415m in 1993.
Barclays said "In 1994 the Barclays group achieved record profits and the strongest balance sheet for more than 10 years. The remuneration committee felt that this achievement should be reflected in the remuneration of the group's executive directors."
The bank's statement added that Mr Buxton had kept the shares after exercising his options, apart from those he sold to finance the option price.
The Barclays annual report contained a five page exposition of directors' earnings on the lines expected to be recommended by the Greenbury Committee.
It showed that Martin Taylor, the new chief executive earned £710,000, excluding pension contributions.
It also emerged that Mr Taylor has what amounts to a phantom option scheme, under which he is to be paid a bonus related to the value over a base price of 619p of 150,00 Barclays shares.
Last night's close was 22p above the base price, but the bonus is payable only between 1997 and 2004. Mr Taylor also has 196,900 options exerciseable from 1997 at a price of 544p.
Mr Taylor earned £204,000 in 1993, when he was a non-executive director for two months, including £180,000 paid to buy out options at Courtaulds Textiles.
The report shows large paper profits for several other directors with options.. Mr Band could make £368,000 profit at last night's price, and he has other options exerciseable in 1996 and 1997.
5
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments