MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Shareholders unite: Barclays cancels directors' bonuses

Britain's Barclays PLC has said that executive directors will not receive any annual bonus this year as the bank seeks to pacify investors over its £7 billion fundraising. The bank also announced that all members of its board, including chief executive John Varley and investment banking boss Bob Diamond, are to be put up for re-election at its AGM next April.

It follows criticism of Barclays' plan to raise money from Middle East investors, which is seen as more costly than accepting Government cash. Barclays announced the scheme to raise funds through Middle East investors at the end of last month as it sought to avoid part-nationalisation under the Government's scheme. It is bringing on board Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan - a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family - and gaining additional support from the Qatari Investment Authority and Challenger, which represents Qatar's royal family. The Association of British Insurers - which represents around a fifth of UK shareholders - has slapped a provisional "amber" top warning on the deal. And institutional investors, such as Legal & General, are said to have been putting pressure on Barclays to change the terms of its deal after being left angry at the cost involved and lack of greater opportunity to participate. But in a further concession to shareholders, Barclays said that its Middle Eastern investors would allow ordinary shareholders to buy as much as £250 million of the preferred stock they have agreed to purchase from Barclays. The proposals will be put before shareholders on November 24. Barclays PLC is a major global financial services player operating in Europe, North America, Middle East, Latinamerica, Australia, Asia and Africa. As a holding company it is listed in London, New York and Tokyo. Barclays PLC was ranked as the 25th largest company in the world according to Forbes Global 2000 (2008 list) and the fourth largest financial services provider in the world according to Tier 1 capital, and the third largest bank in the UK on market capitalization.