Record £11.6 billion profits for Barclays

BANKING giant Barclays posted record annual profits of £11.6 billion for 2009 today as its two most senior bosses turned down bonuses for the second year in a row.

Barclays pre-tax profits – 92% ahead of 2008 – were buoyed by its investment banking arm and the sale of part of the business to raise funds.

But chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond have sacrificed payouts in the light of the “intense public interest and concern” over bankers’ pay, Barclays said.

Barclays said other top directors would take all their bonuses in shares over a three-year period.

At Barclays Capital, the investment banking business where profits surged 89% last year, the proportion of revenues paid out in salary and bonuses fell from 44% to 38%.

The bank said it had lent an extra £35bn to the UK economy during 2009, far beyond its £11bn pledge last April.

Chairman Marcus Agius said: “We know that the impact of the credit crunch and of the subsequent recession has made the lives of millions of citizens and thousands of businesses more difficult.”

Shares in Barclays – which raised funds from the Middle East instead of taking taxpayer cash at the height of the financial crisis – jumped 8% as the markets reacted to the better-than- expected profit performance.

Across the group as a whole, Barclays paid out £2.7bn in bonuses – £1.5bn in cash bonuses and £1.2bn in long-term awards over three years. Almost three-quarters of these payouts were made in shares.