Barclays facing fat-cat protest

BARCLAYS was today facing the prospect of shareholder activists swooping on its annual meeting to campaign against fat-cat pay.

Pension fund consultant Pirc has been urging shareholders to vote against the remuneration package for Barclays' bosses on the grounds that their bonuses are 'potentially excessive'.

Pirc criticised the bank for not disclosing an upper limit on its annual bonus scheme and having no cap on its share options plan. It said the conditions of the pay package were 'not sufficiently challenging', meaning Barclays' senior directors could receive large windfalls for performing well, but not exceptionally.

However, Pirc was expected to be unsuccessful in engineering a shareholder revolt after the National Association of Pension Funds and Association of British Insurers recommended that its members back the resolution.

A Barclays spokeswoman said: 'Early indications from dialogue we have had with our shareholders indicate that we will receive very high levels of support.'

Chief executive Matt Barrett last year received a basic salary of £1.1m, a £1.9m bonus, £831,000 of free shares, a £990,000 top-up to his pension fund and £69,000 in benefits.

Meanwhile, workers were planning to protest over pay outside Royal Bank of Scotland's annual meeting in Edinburgh today. Finance union Unifi has planned the demonstration as part of a campaign for higher pay rises for thousands of RBS employees.