23rd Apr 2019 16:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Barclays shareholders have been advised to vote against the lender's remuneration report by an influential shareholder advisory group, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.
Institutional Shareholder Services are advising shareholders to vote against the report at the lender's upcoming annual general meeting after Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley was censured for attempting to unmask a whistleblower.
The FT quoted the ISS as saying "support for the remuneration report is not considered warranted" following Barclays' USD15 million fine by the US authorities over Staley's involvement in trying to uncover the identity of a person who wrote to the board of Barclays accusing Staley of covering up the personal problems of a friend.
Staley received a personal fine of GBP642,000 and had his pay docked by GBP500,000. ISS, however, said the response was "inadequate, given the loss of shareholder funds and the broader reputational damage and additional regulatory oversight incurred by the group as a result of this issue".
https://www.ft.com/content/d14bbf3c-65aa-11e9-9adc-98bf1d35a056
Shares in Barclays closed down 1.7% Tuesday at 166.46 pence each.
The FT reported on Friday the same advisory group has told shareholders not to vote activist investor Edward Bramson onto the bank's board.
ISS is quoted as saying Bramson has "not presented a sufficiently compelling case" in his attempt to convince Barclays shareholders to give him a board seat.
ISS continued: "The dissident campaign - which is built on a brief investor letter disclosed a few weeks before the annual meeting - falls short of what can reasonably be expected from a shareholder trying to address issues at a GBP28 billion systemically important bank."
https://www.ft.com/content/c8fa2d80-628c-11e9-b285-3acd5d43599e
Bramson has spent about GBP900 million to build a 5.5% stake in Barclays through his investment vehicle Sherborne Investors. He was previously re-buffed in an attempt to get a seat on the board in December.
The activist investor outlined his plans for Barclays, and why the current board is moving the lender in the wrong direction, last week only for the lender to hit back suggesting Bramson would be an "uncollaborative influence".
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