Barclays freezes £22m worth of bonuses for ex-boss Staley amid Epstein inquiry

Bank also increases staff bonus pool by 17% to 1.3bn and reports pre-tax of 8.4bn

Barclays has frozen 22m worth of bonuses for its former chief executive Jes Staley until there are further developments in a regulatory investigation into his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

The news came as the bank increased the bonus pool for its existing staff by more than 17% to 1.3bn, after a surge in annual profits linked to the release of cash originally put aside to cushion the blow of the Covid crisis. Including deferred bonuses, the total bonus pot grew 23% to 1.9bn.