Pay 'shambles' blamed on Barclays remuneration chair

Barclays' remuneration committee chair must be punished for the "shambles" over chief executive Bob Diamond's bonus, a leading investment group has warned.

Pirc has recommended that its clients, which include some of Britain's biggest pension funds, vote down the re-election of the bank's remuneration committee chairwoman, Alison Carnwath. She is seen as responsible for what is widely viewed as a fiasco despite attempts to make concessions on executive pay that has placated some investors.

A Pirc spokesman said: "We hold the remuneration committee chair responsible. Someone must be held accountable for the shambles."

Barclays tweaked the pay packages of Mr Diamond and finance chief Chris Lucas in a bid to head off a potential bloody nose at its annual meeting at the end of this week.

However, both the Association of British Insurers and Pirc said the changes, which could see the two losing part of their 2011 annual bonus if they fail to improve profitability, did nothing to address their concerns. The ABI has put an amber alert out on Barclays, which remains in place.