Barclays 2006 Annual Report Download - page 129

Barclays PLC
Annual Report 2006 125
Governance
2
Corporate governance
Remuneration report
Statement from the Chairman of the Board HR and
Remuneration Committee (the Committee)
The Committee provides governance and strategic oversight of Barclays
Human Resource activities with particular emphasis on remuneration
and senior management development.
The Committee meets a minimum of four times a year. Sir David Arculus
left the Committee during 2006 and Sir Nigel Rudd stepped down as
Chairman at the end of 2006 when I was appointed Chairman. Marcus
Agius became a member of the Committee from 1st January 2007. All
other Committee members are independent non-executive Directors.
In addition to its regular business the Committee also focused on:
•developing a compensation strategy for Global Retail and
Commercial Banking in addition to keeping under review the
existing compensation strategies for Barclays Capital, BGI and
Barclays Wealth;
•reviewing and developing policies to manage the governance of
Barclays pension plans;
•in-depth monitoring of the development of senior talent in all
businesses; and
•strengthening the linkage of performance and remuneration across
the businesses, particularly in respect of annual bonuses.
As part of its regular business, the Committee considers share-based
plans. This includes, since its approval at the 2000 AGM, the Barclays
Global Investors Equity Ownership Plan (BGI EOP). The BGI EOP and its
operation have been disclosed in our financial statements since that
time. This year, we have expanded our reporting further by including an
overview of the BGI EOP’s operation.
The Committee takes seriously its commitment to clear and
comprehensive disclosure. The majority of this report details the
remuneration of the individual Directors who served Barclays in 2006.
Important context to this report and the disclosures that follow is
provided below:
•Barclays performed very strongly in 2006 with profit before tax
(PBT) up 35% and economic profit (EP) up 54%. This performance
has been recognised in the remuneration decisions at all levels
coupled with strong performance differentiation.
•The performance of Barclays Capital, BGI and Barclays Wealth was
particularly strong, enabling the double benefit of delivering
competitive bonus levels and providing an increased share of profit
to shareholders, evidenced by compensation ratios reducing
relative to 2005 and in line with the lower end of the market range.
•In the course of 2006, the Committee approved significant
numbers of strategic hires, including at Board level, ensuring their
remuneration was in line with the appropriate marketplace. It did
this alongside its active oversight of Barclays talent agenda.
Barclays Remuneration Policy remains unchanged, including the
commitment to transparency and to policies and programmes that
serve well the interests of shareholders.
The Committee unanimously recommends that you vote to approve the
report at the 2007 AGM.
Signed on behalf of the Board
Sir Richard Broadbent
Chairman, Board HR and Remuneration Committee
8th March 2007