Hefty City Bonuses Back, Barclays Planning £5 Billion Payout

It seems that the bankers are least worried about the health of the economy. Close on the heels of RBS, Barclays too is planning to pay a total of £5 billion in bonuses and perks to its bosses.

Earlier, it was reported that the bailed out Royal Bank of Scotland was planning to pay its staff a bonus of £500 million in bonuses and perks.

London-based bank Barclays is reportedly planning to give an average of £210,000 each to the 24,000 investment staff. The move came even after Sir Mervyn King's appeal to the banks to keep the cash from the bonuses to build reserves.

Meanwhile, Nick Clegg on Sunday warned banks of strict action if they didn't limit the huge perks and bonuses. The deputy prime minister also pledged to take action next year to prevent bosses awarding themselves "abhorrent" deals in terms of perks at a time when millions of ordinary workers struggle to make ends meet, the Daily Mirror has reported.

Clegg is planning introduce a law to curb the fat pay of bank bosses and to bring in the voices of the staff and the share holders in determining the bonuses of the top bosses.

"What I abhor is people who get paid bucket loads in difficult times for failing. Just as we have been tough on unaffordable things in the public sector, we now need to get tough on the irresponsible behaviour of top remuneration executives in the private sector. We need to make sure people in the public sector do not feel they are doing all the heavy lifting. That those in the private sector are also held to account," the Daily Mail has quoted Clegg as saying.