Barclays Say Sorry For Going Off To The Middle East Like That

Barclays, who got their shareholders rather annoyed by ignoring them in favour of some very wealthy sheiks when they needed some liquidity, have said sorry in their annual general meeting today. Yes, they actually said “sorry”!

“Let me repeat how sorry we are that the exceptional circumstances of the time precluded us offering our shareholders full rights of pre-emption in the capital raising”, said chairman Marcus Agius. He also expressed “sincere regret” for not paying out a dividend to shareholders last quarter, adding that there would be a “conservative” dividend paid at the end of this year. He also announced £11bn of new lending – the alternative would have been a hailstorm of scrutiny from the government, who are expecting Barclays to toe the line and start lending again after they refused Darling’s insurance policy. Chief exec John Varley meanwhile countered Darling’s optimism yesterday by saying we were in for a “deep and prolonged” recession, and to expect some further “thunder and lighting” regarding turmoil in the banking sector.

According to Financial News, the place was packed out with “the traditional flat cap and tweed jacket brigade”, cuing predictable tirades against “Eastern Lands” (yes, if you’re a Barclays shareholders that’s actually how you talk). Now we’re waiting on whether the board has been cast out by the shareholder vote, but if Citigroup’s gang of incompetents can manage to cling on it shouldn’t be too hard for Agius and co.

What was most encouraging about the whole thing was the promise of some sorting out of corporate governance and remuneration – bonuses are to be deferred and subject to “performance hurdles”, and remuneration in general will be more closely tied to the balance sheet. Hopefully they’ll start to atone for their other dubious practices, like rampant tax avoidance and paying non-execs tens of millions…

Posted by Ben Beaumont-Thomas in Hot Money | April 23, 2009 4:08PM |