Barclays boosts CEO's pay to more than $20 million

By Lawrence White

LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Barclays BARC.L hiked CEO C.S. Venkatakrishnan's pay package to 15 million pounds ($20.5 million) in 2025, up from 11.6 million pounds the year before, as the British bank became the latest lender to increase bonus payouts for top staff.

While Barclays cut fixed pay for the CEO known internally as Venkat, the lender said on Tuesday it had boosted his variable pay including bonuses to 12.8 million pounds from 8.5 million in 2024.

The bank's total bonus pool for staff rose 15% to 2.2 billion pounds, Barclays said as it reported financial results for 2025.

Barclays is among the many European lenders enjoying soaring profits and share prices that are nearing 18-year highs, allowing bank executives to rake in more in bonuses as they hit key performance targets, with the years of post-financial crisis restructuring and weak profitability finally left behind.

Venkat's pay has not reached the highs of some of his predecessors, however. Former CEO Bob Diamond took home total pay, shares and benefits worth 17 million pounds in 2011.

CLOSING THE GULF BETWEEN US AND UK BANK PAY

But the bumper package for Venkat shows the bank is starting to close the gulf in senior executive pay that has developed since the 2008 crisis between British banks and Wall Street rivals, which the former have said makes it harder for them to recruit and retain top talent.

U.S. banks still pay much more than European rivals, with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon making $43 million in 2025, for example.

The increase in Venkat's payout was partly related to the executive and the lender hitting performance targets, and also due to changes in Britain around how much banks can pay senior staff.

Britain has steadily relaxed or cut rules inherited from the European Union that controlled bankers' bonuses, scrapping a cap on payouts in 2023 and last October allowing them to be paid sooner.

Executive pay at Barclays' rivals such as Lloyds LLOY.L and HSBC HSBA.L should be published over the coming weeks.

($1 = 0.7316 pounds)