Financial services firm Barclays is set to award its 22,000 investment bankers pay rise of up to 150 per cent in an effort to beat government moves to clamp down on multi-million-pound bonuses, says a media report.
The pay rise at Barclays Capital is expected to be backdated to June this year as the bank looks to compensate its staff following the bonus crackdown, The Telegraph reported adding an announcement is expected within days.
Barclays' decision to increase the pay of its investment bankers is likely to act as an effective cash bonus this year as bulk of the performance pay would be made in stock and deferred for up to three years as per the new guidelines, the report said.
The daily said higher salaries and smaller bonuses are intrinsic to Barclays new pay structure, following which it would increase the cap on salaries from 120,000 pounds to 300,000 pounds.
The changes in the pay structure are likely to benefit the junior staff the most.
Barclays' move comes amid rising tension over bonus payments at Royal Bank of Scotland.
The report noted that RBS' board has threatened to resign en masse if the government vetos plans to pay the lender's 20,000 investment bankers millions of pounds in bonuses.
The Treasury secured a veto as part of the state's latest rescue of the bank taking taxpayer's investment in RBS to 53.5 billion pounds and giving the state an 84 per cent stake.
