Click photo to enlarge
FILE - This Wednesday April 24, 2013 file photo shows a branch of Barclays Bank in London. Barclays, Britain's second-biggest bank in terms of assets, is to slash up to 12,000 jobs as it seeks to change its corporate culture following a string of scandals. But even as the reductions were announced Tuesday Feb. 11, 2014, Barclays set aside more money for bonuses. The bonus pool rose by 210 million pounds in 2013 a move Chief Executive Antony Jenkins defended despite the fact the bank's performance worsened in the fourth quarter.


"At Barclays, we believe in paying for performance and paying competitively," he said.

Despite his defense, there's been a lot of disquiet to the move by Britain's second biggest bank by assets, even among those who would usually offer their support.


"It cannot be right in any business for the executive bonus pool to be nearly three times bigger than the total dividend pay out to the company's owners," he said. "The question must be asked—for whom is this institution being run?"




The criticism over the bonuses may explain, at least partially, the sharp fall in the company's share price, which closed 3.8 percent lower at 265 pence.

At the same time as it ramped up its bonus pool, the bank said between 10,000 and 12,000 jobs will go from a total workforce of 140,000. Around 400 of those jobs will go in the investment division, one of the targets of Jenkins' plan to transform the bank's reputation. The job cuts are part of a plan to reduce costs to 16.8 billion pounds by 2015.

The news over the job cuts came as the bank revealed that its net loss widened to 642 million pounds ($1.1 billion) in the fourth quarter, from 589 million pounds a year earlier. The results showed that operating expenses increased by 1.1 billion pounds during the period, including 468 million pounds for "Project Transform," Jenkins' flagship culture change effort.

