Barclays faces pay protest vote at AGM

Investment industry sources said Barclays faces the prospect of between 15pc and 20pc of its shareholder base voting against its remuneration report and the re-election of Alison Carnwarth as the chairman of its remuneration committee at its shareholders meeting next Friday. The prospect of a shareholder revolt on pay comes after Barclays on Thursday announced new performance targets for chief executive Bob Diamond and finance director Chris Lucas, in an effort to head off an embarrassing public showdown with its investors. The amendments to Mr Diamond's and Mr Lucas's pay mean that half their annual bonuses will be subject to clawback if the bank is not able to achieve a return on equity in excess of its cost of equity. However, some shareholders were unimpressed by the move and said it did not come close to satisfying their concerns over Mr Diamond's £17.7m compensation package. In particular, investors remain incensed that the bank has done nothing to address their concerns about a £5.75m "tax equalisation" payment by made by Barclays to cover the cost of a tax bill incurred by Mr Diamond when he relocated from New York to London to take charge of the bank at the start of last year. "As far as we are concerned the change they announced does nothing to address the issues we have raised and therefore our view remains the same," said one investment industry source.