Barclays buries £40m million of bonus bad news on budget day

Barclays has attempted to sneak out news of almost £40 million in bonus payments as the nation’s press was focused on George Osborne’s fourth budget.

On the busiest news day in the financial calendar, Barclays reported £39.5 million in bonus share allotments, with almost £18 million immediately cashed in by its head of investment banking Rich Ricci.

Head of wealth and investment Thomas Kalaris similarly cashed out his entire allotment of around £5.5 million. 

Chief executive of campaign group Move Your Money Laura Willoughby said: 'Trying to hide their big pay-checks and share options under the cover of the nation's belt-tightening budget is simply crass.'

The news came little more than a month after chief executive Antony Jenkins (pictured) pledged to put morality at the centre of Barclays corporate mission, and suggested staff who did not feel comfortable signing up to that code may want to reconsider their prospects at the business.

Jenkins was also awarded shares worth £5.3 million in a bonus round taking place under the bank’s deferred remuneration scheme. He reportedly cashed in around half the allotment.

The bank has pledged to not payout bonuses after Barclays’ annus horribillis in 2012, a year in which the Libor scandal claimed the scalps of both chief executive Bob Diamond and chair Marcus Agius.