New Barclays Boss To Be Paid Up To £8.2m

Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) has appointed US banker Jes Staley as its new boss with an annual pay package of up to £8.2m.

The appointment, which was widely expected, will also see him receive shares worth around £1.9m to compensate him for stock awards he would have received from previous employer JP Morgan.

Mr Staley told staff in an internal memo: "I still believe that trust is the most precious asset a bank can have."

He takes over on December 1 after the bank sacked previous chief executive Antony Jenkins in July over lacklustre revenue growth and a flat share performance.

The appointment of Mr Staley, a leading investment banker with more than three decades' experience at JP Morgan, was widely seen as a break with the bank’s direction under Mr Jenkins, who had tried to clean up the group after previous scandals such as Libor rate-rigging.

But in his memo to staff, the new boss insisted that the "cultural transformation" of the group must continue. He added: "There can be no retreat from becoming a values driven organisation which conducts itself with integrity at all times."

Mr Staley also said banks should "have relationships with regulators that are collaborative, not adversarial".

The 58-year-old, who is married with two children, will receive annual fixed pay of £2.7m plus bonuses worth up to £5.5m a year.

Barclays said it set his pay package based on his experience as well as by looking at "compensation arrangements at a peer group of global universal banks".

Chairman John McFarlane, who has led the bank during the interim period since Mr Jenkins was sacked, said of the new boss: "We are in agreement on the way forward.

"He is a man of enormous integrity, and someone who both understands the business, but also the importance of cultural reform and the need to conduct our business in a way that we can all be proud of."

The announcement comes a day before Barclays is due to report third quarter financial results.

Predecessor Mr Jenkins was paid £5.5m for 2014 as he accepted his annual bonus having declined it in prior years.

Bob Diamond, who led the bank before quitting over the Libor scandal, was paid £6.3m in 2011 and £9m in 2010.

Last year one disgruntled investor told the bank's annual general meeting that it was "paying for Manchester United (NYSE: MANU - news) but getting Colchester United" after it emerged that nearly 500 staff were being paid £1m or more.