Barclays pay deal riles investors

BARCLAYS Bank is trying to defuse a shareholder row over chief executive Matt Barrett's new multi-million pound pay deal ahead of its annual meeting this month.

Executives have held secret talks with big investors to placate them over Barrett's payandperks deal, worth up to £15m over the next three years.

Shareholders were tight-lipped on Tuesday. Barclays said: 'We are very happy. We had a very good meeting.' Barclays faces criticism because the deal will not be put to the vote at its annual meeting on 25 April.

This goes against corporate governance policy of investors, including BT pension fund manager Hermes. It also flies in the face of government moves to make a vote on company pay packages a legal requirement.

It means 900,000 small shareholders will not be given the chance to protest. Barrett, 57, earned £2.3m last year. When he arrived at Barclays in 2000, critics described his lucrative share option package as 'unintelligible'. The shares fell 12p to 2215p.