Barclays CEO speaks as bank deals with fallout of ex-boss Jes Staley’s ties to convicted child sex offender; Japan’s stock market jumps to new peak in extended rally after Sanae Takaichi’s party secures election victory
Barclays bankers will be popping the champagne corks after the lender hiked bonuses to their highest level in 12 years.
Bankers will be sharing £2.2bn worth of bonuses for the 2025 financial year, marking a 15% increase from £1.9bn last year. It comes after Barclays revealed a 13% rise in full year profits on Tuesday to £9.1bn.
It is the biggest sum put aside for its bankers since 2013 – when the bank controversially hiked payouts despite profits dropping by nearly a third that year – and comes after the UK scrapped a cap on bonuses for bankers in 2023.
Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan also benefited, seeing his total pay jump 30% to £15m for 2025.
The bank’s annual report showed that while his fixed pay drop under a new pay policy to £2.1m from £2.9m last year, that fall was more than offset by a 50% surge in his bonus to £12.8m.
Part of that was down to a rise in Barclays’ share price, which helped boost the value of his long-term bonus that is paid in the bank’s own shares. That helped increase his total long term incentive pay – known as his LTIP – to £9.5m, up from £6.2m last year.
The CEO’s annual bonus also grew by £1m to £3.3m.
Chief financial officer Anna Cross will also be celebrating, as the first payouts from her long-term bonus resulted in a 173% jump in her total pay package to £8.8m.
The chief executive of Barclays has said he is “deeply dismayed and shocked” at the “depravity and the corruption” revealed in the Epstein files, as the bank deals with the fallout of its ex-boss Jes Staley’s ties to the convicted child sex offender.
I’m very, very deeply dismayed and shocked by the moral depravity and the corruption that you’re reading about in the latest set of instalments. You know, my heart really goes out to victims of this scandal and these crimes.
