Barclays To Reveal Profits And Bonuses

Banking giant Barclays is set to report another multibillion-pound profit today and reveal its total pay and bonus pot for 2011.

The bank, which employs around 56,000 staff in the UK, is expected to report pre-tax profits of £6.1billion for 2011, flat on the previous year.

The results come after weeks of conflict over bankers' bonuses, which has seen the bosses of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds both waive payouts.

Barclays' bonus pot of up to £1.8bn will be shared between nearly 25,000 investment bankers - which works out as an average £200,000 each.

Bank chief Bob Diamond is entitled to a £3.4m bonus on top of his salary, and if long term shares are included, his total could hit £11.5 million.

Campaigners from the groups UK Uncut and Move Your Money UK will be protesting outside a central London branch of the bank after the figures are unveiled this morning.

There is speculation the bank will announce plans to slash pay by up to 30% for its investment teams, with earnings for middle-ranking and junior staff to be cut.

Its latest figures are being released hours after Labour leader Ed Miliband accused the Government of defending the interests of the "irresponsible few" in the City.

Mr Miliband, who is trying to harness public anger over bankers' bonuses, insisted the culture in banking had to change.

In the inaugural lecture at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, he said: "Some argue that it is no business of the public what bonuses banks pay.

"I fundamentally disagree, because even banks which are not publicly owned implicitly benefit from a taxpayer guarantee, to the tune of billions of pounds.

"That is why we need change in the bonus culture across all our banks, and we need responsibility from top to bottom across our society.

"Across the economy, we need executives to recognise that exceptional rewards should only be for exceptional performance.

"Tackling excessive executive pay and bonuses is not an end in itself but a necessary first step towards a bigger change in our economy in which people get fair rewards for their contribution at every level of society."

Chancellor George Osborne had earlier used a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses to defend the principle of "rewards for success".

He said: "Of course rewards for failure are unacceptable - and those who believe in the free market are the first to say so but a strong, free market economy must be built on rewards for success.

"There are those who are trying to create an anti-business culture in Britain - and we have to stop them. At stake are not pay packages for a few but jobs and prosperity for the many."