Barclays millionaires

Barclays has revealed that 428 of its staff worldwide earned more than a million pounds last year.

It says it is the first bank to publish detailed information on the pay of all its employees. Many are likely to be working in investment banking and an undisclosed number would be in the US or elsewhere.

Barclays has been caught up in a series of scandals, from the attempted rigging of the Libor interbank interest rate to mis-selling Payment protection insurance - so the disclosure of so many staff getting over a million pounds is bound to stir up controversy.

The bank points out that the 428 total is down ten per cent from 2011 and that those earning over 5 million pounds are down from 17 to 5.

71,000 are on less than £25,000.

The information is being made public after Barclays appointed a senior banking figure, Sir David Walkers as chairman.

He'd previously recommended that all banks come clean about pay to high flyers.

Barclays has also given more detail on how its bonus pool has been reduced to reflect the various scandals the bank has been involved in.

We already knew the bonus pool for 2012 was £2.168bn, down from £2.578bn in 2011.

Now we learn that it was reduced by £290m for the Libor affair and by £570m for PPI and interest rate swaps.

There was also a 10% reduction to reflect that they are trying to bring down total pay.

Commission culture at banks

The incoming chairman of Barclays has told MPs that banks must jettison the "commission culture" which has led to sales of inappropriate products.

Barclays and other banks are beset by scandals including the mis-selling of Payment Protection Insurance, sales of unsuitable add-ons to small business accounts and the attempted rigging of a key market interest rate called LIBOR.

Sir David Walker, who will occupy the chairman's seat at Barclays from November, said that bankers "must get away from remuneration linked to revenue sales" and that boardrooms must be readier to intervene to prevent managers from putting their banks' reputations at risk.

He told the committee that "making quick returns...overtook old fashioned concerns about standards" and he lamented the fact that cashiers in branches had been tainted because of the way pay and commissions were structured.

Sir David is giving evidence to the Banking Standards Committee, set up to report on the industry in the wake of the LIBOR affair.