LONDON — Barclays said on Friday that it had awarded its chief executive, Robert E. Diamond Jr., £6.3 million ($10.3 million) in compensation for last year, a reduction in pay as profit at the British bank slipped.
Mr. Diamond is to receive a pay package that includes £2.7 million in deferred shares and a £1.35 million salary for last year. That compares with a total compensation of £9 million for 2010, when he was still head of Barclays’ investment banking operation.
His compensation dropped as Barclays struggled to deal with the fallout from the sovereign debt crisis. Last year, profit slumped 16 percent at the bank, which faced a tough economic environment and new regulatory challenges.
Pay packages “reflect performance, and in making these decisions we are mindful of current economic conditions,” the remuneration committee wrote in its annual report. “Barclays needs to operate commercially, and that includes setting remuneration for our executive directors appropriately.”
Some politicians and employee representatives continue to criticize large paychecks for banking executives. The chief executives of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, both of which are partly owned by the British government, waived their bonuses this year. The chief of HSBC, which, like Barclays, did not have to be bailed out by the government, was awarded £6.6 million in pay, bonuses and allowances for last year.
Mr. Diamond was the third-highest earner at Barclays. The bank did not disclose the names of the top earners but said the highest-paid employee was awarded £6.7 million in total remuneration. The heads of Barclays Capital, the bank’s investment banking unit, traditionally earn more than the chief executive. Rich Ricci and Jerry del Missier run the unit together.
Like many of its peers, Barclays Capital limited cash bonuses this year, capping them at £65,000. It also reduced the bonus pool for the unit by 32 percent to £1.5 billion. Across the company, the bonus pool was 25 percent lower. Top executives received on average 48 percent less.
Separately, Barclays said in its annual report that it was talking with authorities about settling possible legal proceedings against it related to reported manipulations of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor.
Barclays is among a group of banks under investigation by several authorities and financial regulators, which are seeking to determine whether traders at the banks conspired to influence the lending rates. Libor is important because financial products like mortgage rates are linked to it.
“Barclays has been informed by certain of the authorities investigating these matters that proceedings against Barclays may be recommended,” the bank said in its annual report. “Barclays is engaged in discussions with those authorities about potential resolution of those aspects.” The bank said it was “not currently possible to predict the ultimate resolution of the issues.”
The authorities investigating the case include the United States Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Commission.