Barclays' bonuses at highest level for five years for top performers

Barclays may not have dramatically increased bonuses in its investment bank to reflect the lifting of the bonus cap last year, but for managing directors, it did increase bonuses all the same.

Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.

The investment bank bonus pool paid to Barclays' 832 'identified staff,' including top traders, bankers and control staff, many of whom are managing directors, rose by 17% last year, to £647.2m. At the same time, though, the number of identified staff fell by nearly 8% compared to 2023. 

As a result, pay for identified staff at Barclays' investment bank was at its highest level for five years in 2024, as shown in the chart below. 

Barclays' generosity appears to have been skewed to some of its very top performers. As the (2nd page of the) chart below shows, someone at the bank was paid between  €16m and €17m last year and someone else was paid between €14m and €15m. Pay this high has not been seen at the bank since at least 2019. 

Profits in Barclays' investment bank rose by 18% in 2024, driven by revenue growth in equities trading and debt capital markets. Despite the bank's generosity, costs across the bank were down £170m and the cost income ratio in the business fell to 67%. This was down from the 70% ratio of the previous year. However, Barclays plans to cut £700m of costs from the investment bank by 2026; there's still a long way to go. 

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libellous (in which case it won’t.)

Photo by Joshua Lawrence on Unsplash