Today Barclays puts its pay report before investors: Are you intending to support it?
YES
Guy Jubb
We are pleased that our key concerns over last year’s executive bonuses have been addressed. The decisions demonstrate that robust stewardship engagement by long-term institutional investors does work, especially when it is undertaken in a “comply or explain” governance environment. The result is a much better alignment with pay for performance than was initially proposed. Barclays has responded constructively to our concerns and we now intend to support the remuneration report at today’s AGM.
Guy Jubb is global head of governance and stewardship at Standard Life Investments.
Bob Diamond’s pay has come under scrutiny
NO
Alan MacDougall
This issue is pretty simple for us. The company hasn’t been delivering for shareholders, yet it has made significant awards to its chief executive and others. Given that Barclays’s shares are trading far below net asset value, we struggle to think of any circumstances in which a chief executive who was part of a team when the bank got into that predicament should be receiving any bonus. Banks need to show a bit of common sense and it’s not obvious that Barclays has grasped that the terms of the debate around pay have shifted considerably, so we’ve recommended voting against.
Alan MacDougall is managing director of Pirc.