Barclays plans to change CEO CS Venkatakrishnan’s salary

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Barclays is proposing to overhaul the way it pays its chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan in a move that will reduce his fixed salary but give him £9mn if the lender meets its profit targets.

The Bank of England wrote to investors this week outlining plans to change the way it makes payments Venkatakrishnan and group finance director Anna Cross, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The changes, if approved, would see Venkatakrishnan’s fixed salary cut from £2.95mn to £1.59mn, but the former JPMorgan executive would be eligible for bonuses and time options long stock worth eight times his new salary, the person said.

They also said that Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, will receive around £9mn if Barclays achieved its previously stated return on equity target – a key measure of the bank’s profitability – of 12 percent by 2026.

His gross salary would be reduced by more than £14mn, but he would only be given this amount if Barclays achieved a return on tangible equity of more than 14 per cent, the person said.

Venkatakrishnan’s total salary has reached £4.64mn for 2023, down from £5.2mn a year earlier.

The move, first reported by Sky News, comes after Barclays last year became the Britain’s first debt to abandon the bank’s bonus cap imposed by the EU, following the UK’s 2023 decision to lift limits on post-Brexit raises for the City of London.

At the time, Barclays told staff it would start bonuses for its top employees, the so-called material risk takers, about 10 times their fixed salary, while keeping the same salary.

Under the bonus cap, which was introduced across the EU in 2014 following the global financial crisis, bonuses were capped at twice salary.

Venkatakrishnan was a unusual vocal supporter of chancellor Rachel Reeves, who dismayed many business leaders by increasing taxes by £40bn in October’s budget and has so far struggled to revive Britain’s battered economy.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Venkatakrishnan said there was “a lot to be optimistic about” in the UK, including its financial sector. Reeves also attended the conference to attract business leaders and foreign investors.

Barclays said its remuneration committee “meets with stakeholders throughout the year to gather feedback on our remuneration strategy”.

“Whether or not the committee chooses to introduce any change to the remuneration policy of our current directors in 2025, the policy will continue to focus on rewarding sustainable performance, and close alignment with the interests of shareholders .

“The committee will publish their views and conclusions in the 2024 annual report on February 13.”