Barclays set to fight banker bashing – and pay chief £10m

Mr Diamond, who is the bank’s chief executive, could reportedly receive a share award worth as much as seven-and-a-half times his £1.3m salary.

Those hoping to see Mr Diamond’s pay packet are likely to be disappointed, however, as the chief executive’s deal is not expected to be revealed until the annual report is published in mid-March.

And the bank is expected to hit back against the “banker bashers” this week by revealing it has cut pay and met targets for lending to businesses.

A source told a Sunday newspaper yesterday it will show on Friday that it has lent 13 per cent or 14 per cent more to British businesses in 2011 than agreed in its Project Merlin negotiations with the Government.

The UK’s five biggest banks agreed to make £190bn available to businesses in 2011, which was £11bn more than the previous year, although the targets for individual banks were not made public. Barclays is also set to announce plans to cut pay by as much as 30 per cent for 24,000 staff at its Barclays Capital investment banking arm as it responds to outrage over bankers’ bonuses. The figures are expected to be released as it reports pre-tax profits of between £5.5bn and £6bn, down from £6.1bn the previous year.

Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for a tax on bankers’ bonuses ahead of a House of Commons vote on the issue.

British Bankers’ Association chief executive Angela Knight yesterday called for the public debate on banking not to “descend to personal attacks on individuals” and an end to personal pillorying.