Last month I mused about the 2012 compensation for Barclays chief executive Bob Diamondand whether the large package was justified. I received some interesting feedback on this topic. One source pointed out that a large part of the £20 million number I had referred to was vesting shares, accumulated during previous years when Diamond was head of the investment bank. Source went on to state that if Diamond and his advisers were more in touch with sentiment in the country, they might have realized that even though every item of the compensation package could be justified, it was simply not appropriate to snaffle all the moolah at once. "Why not put some of it in a charitable foundation?" source queried. "Or put it in trust until the share price rises by 30% so investors feel good about Diamond getting paid?"
Another reader came up with a different angle. "What everyone’s missing about Bob Diamond and other highly paid bank executives," Mole mused, "is that these guys are not real capitalists. Consequently, they’re giving our entire system a bad name and even making it hard for governments to implement pro-business policies. True wealth creators get lumped together with senior bankers’ predatory, rent-seeking approach and their defiant sense of entitlement.