Barclays' chief Antony Jenkins defends pay in sector
BARCLAYS’ chief executive Antony Jenkins has said it could take a decade for the bank to regain public trust after a series of scandals.
But Jenkins, who succeeded Bob Diamond last year after the Libor rate-rigging scandal saw the lender fined £290million, defended pay in the sector amid controversy over bonuses.
Jenkins, who was guest editing BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said: “In my view it will take several years – probably five to 10 – to rebuild trust in Barclays.”
In addition to the Libor scandal, banks have had to make multi-billion-pound provisions for insurance mis-selling and regulators are also investigating the alleged manipulation of the £3trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.
Jenkins said: “It’s desperately disappointing to still have these issues being uncovered. We are undoing 30 years of culture and that will take time.”
On remuneration, he said it was very important to pay only for performance but large bonuses were the cost of running a major investment banking business.
He added: “If you want to be in certain types of business, you have to accept the pay structures in those industries.”