C.S. Venkatakrishnan, the CEO of Barclays got an increase in the money he made in 2025. The bank said he got a pay package of than £15 million, which is about $20.5 million. This is a lot more than the £11.6 million he got the year. Barclays is doing well with its finances and things have changed with the rules. Now the bank can pay its people more money if they do a good job. This is why C.S. Venkatakrishnan and other senior executives, at Barclays are getting money.
Barclays just came out with their annual results and it looks like Venkatakrishnan, who everyone, at the bank calls Venkat got a lower fixed salary.. His variable pay, which includes bonuses went up a lot. The main reason his total pay increased was because of the performance-linked pay. This means the variable part of his pay went from 8.5 million pounds in 2024 to 12.8 million pounds in 2025. Venkatakrishnans pay is really based on how he does his job and it seems like he did a good job so Venkat got a lot more money.
🏦 Why the Pay Bump?
Barclays is doing well just like a lot of other European banks. They have been making a lot money lately. In 2025 Barclays made profits and their share prices went up. This meant they could give money to the people in charge and to the employees. The total amount of money that Barclays set aside for bonuses for their staff went up by 15% to £2.2 billion. This is because Barclays is doing overall. Barclays is really happy, with how thingsre going and they are showing their appreciation to their staff by giving them more money. Barclays and their employees are benefiting from this.
The thing is, this trend is connected to changes in the rules in the United Kingdom that control how much money top executives get paid.
After the United Kingdom left the European Union they got rid of the European Unions limit on the bonuses that bankers could get. This limit used to control how money they could get.
The United Kingdom also made it easier for banks to pay out bonuses when they want to so now banks like Barclays can pay their executives more money and pay it to them faster.
This is about the executive pay, in the United Kingdom and how it is changing.
🌍 Closing the Gap with U.S. Banks
Venkatakrishnans pay is still not as high as the pay of top people in the same field. Some bank CEOs in the United States get paid than twice as much as Venkatakrishnan. The people in charge at Barclays say this makes it hard for them to find the best people to work for the company. This is because the rules and customs around paying executives are different, in the United States and Europe. Venkatakrishnans pay is an example of this difference.
👔 Who Is C.S. Venkatakrishnan?
Coimbatore Sundararajan “Venkat” Venkatakrishnan is a banker who was born in India but now lives in America. He became the CEO of Barclays in November 2021. He took over from Jes Staley. Before that Venkatakrishnan worked at JPMorgan Chase. He had some important jobs there like working with investments and managing risk. Venkatakrishnan joined Barclays in 2016. As the CEO of Barclays Venkatakrishnan is trying to do a things. He wants to make Barclays more profitable. He also wants to manage risk.. He wants to change Barclays so it can grow over a long time.
His expanded pay package underscores Barclays’ confidence in his performance and its strategy to align executive compensation with the bank’s outcomes — even as debates over high executive pay persist among shareholders and the public.
