Barclays boss sees pay more than double to £10.5m as bank's profits boom amid rise in dealmaking

By JOHN-PAUL FORD ROJAS

Updated: 22:01 GMT, 13 February 2025

The boss of Barclays saw his pay more than double to £10.5million last year as the bank’s profits surged amid an increase in dealmaking.

CS Venkatakrishnan, known internally as ‘Venkat’, cashed in as a long-term share-based bonus scheme paid out for the first time since his appointment in 2021.

The pay packet dwarfed the £4.6million he was paid the previous year.

The details were published in the Barclays annual report, which gave an upbeat assessment of the outlook for the British economy but signalled wider uncertainty as a result of Donald Trump’s tariff plans.

Venkat reiterated his backing for Labour’s growth plan even as official figures revealed sluggish growth of 0.1 per cent at the end of the last quarter.

‘These things take time,’ he said. ‘It takes many quarters to see the effect of it. It’s not a switch that’s turned on and off. ‘I am patient. But patient with an expectation and confidence.’

Payday: Barclays boss CS Venkatakrishnan, known internally as Venkat, cashed in as a long-term share-based bonus scheme paid out for the first time since his appointment in 2021

Finance director Anna Cross said customers were in ‘robust shape’. Venkat said its dealmaking business in the US would be boosted by Trump axing regulations.

‘On the other hand, there’s obviously some economic uncertainty that comes from tariffs either on countries or on certain commodities and people will have to understand the impact of that,’ he said. ‘It’s still too soon. We’ve got to see this play out for a few months.’

Barclays reported a 24 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £8.1billion for 2024, helped by a 28pc rise in fees and underwriting income to £2.5billion.

In the UK, it received a boost from buying Tesco Bank but took a hit from a squeeze on mortgage profit margins.

The overall bonus pool increased to £1.91billion from £1.75billion.

It is also handing out a one-off share award worth £500 to almost all its 90,000 global staff.

Meanwhile, it set aside £90million as it counted the cost of a motor finance scandal that has engulfed much of the industry.

That is a smaller exposure than some rivals as it stopped selling motor finance in 2019.

Lloyds has put aside £450millio and analysts expect it will increase the provision when it reports annual results next week.

Venkat also said he was ‘deeply apologetic’ for a recent IT glitch that disrupted digital services for around two days.

‘We are absolutely focused on assisting customers who experienced general difficulty as a result and we will strive to make sure that people who were impacted will be compensated,’ he said.

Analysts at Citi described the results as solid, but said there was not much new to excite investors.

Shares, recently at 14-year highs, fell 4.7 per cent, or 14.5p to 293.25p.

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Barclays boss sees pay more than double to £10.5m as bank’s profits boom amid rise in dealmaking

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Barclays boss sees pay more than double to £10.5m as bank’s profits boom amid rise in dealmaking