Barclays shareholders urged to vote against excessive executive pay package after ex-CFO cost bank millions
Glass Lewis has recommended that Barclays’ shareholders vote against a pay plan for its executive team, citing excessive pay for its former finance chief who was in charge when a trading blunder ended up costing the bank hundreds of millions.
While Barclays docked £1m from the pay of its top executives in February, proxy advisor Glass Lewis highlighted that ex-CFO Tushar Morzaria was still receiving around 70 per cent of his pay package.
Glass Lewis objected to long-term share awards, which vested last year, under which Morzaria was awarded nearly £3m despite the bank facing huge fines for regulatory mishaps during his tenure as chief financial officer.
In February 2022, Barclays sold $17.7bn more structured products and exchange traded notes than it had regulatory permission for.
The lender had to pay $361m to settle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, with the fine consisting of a $200m civil penalty and $161m disgorgement of interest earned.
Glass Lewis suggested the pay package was too large considering the scale of the error.
“We believe shareholders could reasonably have expected the committee to further reduce this award to better reflect the financial and reputational impact of the risk and control issues over the period,” Glass Lewis wrote in a report on Barclays.
Morzaria was finance chief from 2014 until April 2022, stepping down shortly after the trading mishap.
Glass Lewis has previously criticised pay at other banks. Last year it urged investors to reject Natwest’s pay package arguing there was no “compelling strategic rationale”.
The bank will hold its annual shareholder meeting on May 3.
A Barclays spokesperson said: “Considerations and decisions made by the Remuneration Committee are set out clearly and fully in the 2022 Barclays Annual Report.”