average payment to a UK bank 2011

average payment to a UK bank 2011 : Official data shows that bonuses paid to staff in financial services dropped by nine per cent in 2011 to £13 billion. The average payment to a UK banker was £12,000 last year.

However, bonus payment to financial staff still made up 36 per cent of the overall amount of bonuses paid, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), even though just four per cent of all employees work in the sector.

Part taxpayer-owned banks such as the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds came under pressure to limit bonus payments to staff as the taxpayer sits on a loss after the banks share prices slumped over the last 12 months.

RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester waived his £1 million bonus for the second consecutive year and lloyds boss Antonia Horta-Osorio also declined to take his bonus.

The outrage over bonuses also led to the then Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond to announce he would not take his bonus. He resigned later in the year over the Libor scandal.

The furore has led to many banks changing their remuneration structures and offering higher base salaries and lower bonuses.

The £12,000 bonus payment represents an almost 50 per cent reduction in bonus payments made to bankers, insurers and other professionals in the financial services sector since the peak in 2007-08.

However bonuses in the financial sector are still almost double the level they were nine years ago in 2002-03, showing just how much the banker bonus culture became established in the five years between 2002 and 2007.

However, many people will still be angry that bonuses remain so high. Households who are struggling with the biggest squeeze on income since the 1930’s ordinary employees in financial services who are clinging to their jobs or who have seen thousands of banking colleagues made redundant and savers who are struggling to beat inflation as interest rates are low, partly as a consequence of the financial crisis.

Despite the continued poor performance of the economy, bonus payments across the overall economy in 2011-12 increased by three per cent to £37 billion, an average of £1,400 per employee.

But finance workers received an average bonus of nearly nine times this amount, £12,000, according to the ONS. This was down by £1,500 on 2010-11.

The overall increase in bonus payments was caused by bonus increases in the rest of the economy rather than in the financial services.

Bonuses paid to professionals outside the finance sector were almost as high as they were at the economic peak between 2006 and 2008.

Behind financial services staff, came employees in mining and quarrying who received an average bonus of £6,300. In third spot were information and communication employees who got an average of £3,800.

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Impact Barclays scandals on stock prices

Impact Barclays scandals on stock prices : Barclays paid £290 million to settle claims that it used underhand tactics to try to rig financial markets. The penalties from UK and US regulators, including a record £59.5 million fine from the Financial Services Authority (FSA), followed allegations that it manipulated Libor and Euribor interbank lending, which govern the rates at which banks are prepared to lend to each other in the wholesale money markets.

In the depths of the financial crisis, Barclays gave false information about the interest rates it had to pay to borrow money in an effort to paint a false picture of its health to markets.

Barclays shares slid 15% at one stage - wiping £3 billion from its market value - as investors ditched the stock amid fears the fines could be dwarfed by lawsuits and damages.

The bank said a phone call between Barclays boss Bob Diamond and the Bank of England ultimately led to some of the rate-rigging actions.

Jerry del Missier, who was president of investment arm Barclays Capital at the time, told staff to lower the key interbank lending rate after misunderstanding Mr Diamond's account of the conversation with Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker.

Mr Diamond and Mr del Missier stepped down with immediate effect following increased pressure from politicians, shareholders and former Barclays directors in the wake of the scandal.

Small businesses
Barclays revealed a potential £450 million bill for mis-selling complex financial products to unwitting small businesses.

It was one of four banks which agreed with the FSA to compensate customers who were mis-sold interest rate hedging products.

Also known as interest rate swaps, the complicated derivatives products may have been sold to businesses as protection - or to act as a hedge - against a rise in rates without the customer fully grasping the risks.

Qatar
Barclays revealed that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched an investigation into payments made between the bank and Qatar at the height of the financial crisis.

The bank said last month that the matter was being investigated by the FSA but revealed today that the SFO has launched its own inquiry.

The organisation is understood to be looking at whether disclosure of payments to advisers was sufficient when it raised more than £5 billion of emergency capital from Middle Eastern investors in 2008.

The investigations are thought to be related to funds raised from investors, which effectively allowed Barclays to avoid following in the footsteps of Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland in taking a bailout.

The deals were controversial because they offered favourable terms not available to other shareholders, although there is no suggestion that the investors have done anything wrong.

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Who is New Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins

Who is New Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins : Barclays has appointed Antony Jenkins to be its new chief executive. The appointment follows the resignation of former chief executive Bob Diamond in the wake of the Libor interest rate-fixing scandal.

Mr Jenkins currently runs Barclays Retail and Business Banking and has been a member of the group's executive committee since 2009

The announcement comes a day after Barclays said the Serious Fraud Office was investigating the bank.

Barclays said the SFO was investigating payments between the bank and Qatar Holding LLC, part of sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.

The inquiry relates to events in 2008, when Barclays was raising money from Middle East investors during the banking crisis.

'Serious mistakes'
In a statement, Mr Jenkins said he was "very proud to have been asked to lead Barclays", where he began his career nearly 30 years ago.

But he admitted: "We have made serious mistakes in recent years and clearly failed to keep pace with our stakeholders' expectations."

Mr Jenkins takes over at a difficult time for the banking group, which has seen its reputation severely dented.

In June, it was fined £290m by UK and US regulators for manipulating Libor, an interbank lending rate which affects mortgages and loans.

Mr Jenkins will start on a basic salary of £1.1m, with a potential annual bonus worth up to 250% of his salary subject to performance.

On top of this, he may be eligible for a long-term incentive bonus worth a maximum of 400% of his salary.

Barclays chairman Marcus Agius said Mr Jenkins was chosen "because of his excellent track record transforming Barclaycard and Retail and Business Banking".

Mr Agius resigned as chairman following the Libor scandal, but agreed to stay on until a new chief executive was found.

He will be replaced by Sir David Walker.

The scandal also led to the resignations of the group's chief executive, Bob Diamond, and its chief operating officer, Jerry del Missier.

Mr Jenkins was chief executive of Barclaycard from 2006 to 2009.

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