Row over Bob Diamond's £17m package escalates as advisory body recommends its clients vote against remuneration proposal
A row over the £17m pay package for Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond and a decision by the bank to pay his £5.7m tax bill escalated on Monday after it emerged that the advisory body Pensions Investment Research Consultants (Pirc) was recommending its clients vote against the proposals and the chair of the remuneration committee, Alison Carnwath.
Pirc, whose clients include local authorities, also recommended voting down the bank's report and accounts because of a problem it believes exists with international accounting standards.
Diamond should not receive a bonus at all, Pirc added, because the bank's shares trade below net asset value, "an investment failure from the perspective of shareholders".