Barclays cuts bonuses by a third to £1.5 billion

Barclays has bowed to public pressure and slashed the bonuses paid to its City investment bankers by a third, to a total of £1.5 billion.

But the banking group, which today announced profits of almost £6 billion, still faced criticism for "anti-austerity largesse" as chief executive Bob Diamond refused to give the size of his top-up, or whether he would accept it.

Lib-Dem Lord Oakeshott said: "Top people at Barclays Capital are still collecting enormous bonuses on the back of a UK taxpayer guarantee. Now when they gamble, it's heads Bob Diamond wins, tails the taxpayer loses."

He called for the bank's investment arm, Barclays Capital, "the BarCap casino", to be separated from the high-street banking operation
Last month Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, rejected a £963,000 bonus.

Lloyds boss António Horta-Osório also waived his payout. However, unlike RBS and Lloyds, Barclays did not receive a direct bailout from the Government during the 2008 financial crisis.

The average bonus for Barclays Capital staff fell 30 per cent to £64,000, as the investment arm's profits slumped 32 per cent to £2.96 billion. No banker got more than £65,000 of their bonus in cash, with any excess in the form of shares.

Group pre-tax profits of £5.9 billion were three per cent lower than last year.

Mr Diamond's bonus will be disclosed when the bank publishes its annual report next month. He said: "I am here to talk about the results today, not to talk about the bonus."

Customers queued to close accounts in protest at the profits and bonuses. About 40 waited outside Barclays in Southampton Row as part of a Move Your Money campaign. Others followed in Oxford, Sheffield and Leeds.