Barclays, Sabadell bosses give up some pay to aid coronavirus relief efforts

By Jesús Aguado and Lawrence White

MADRID/LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Barclays <BARC.L> and Spain's Banco Sabadell <SABE.MC> on Tuesday said senior executives would give up some of their pay, joining a list of European banks where bosses have made such a gesture as part of efforts to combat the new coronavirus.

Barclays said Chief Executive Jes Staley, Chairman Nigel Higgins and Chief Financial Officer Tushar Morzaria would all donate a third of their fixed pay for the next six months to a new 100 million pound community aid fund launched by the bank.

Sabadell and its British subsidiary TSB said that senior management of both banks would give up their bonus awards for 2020, so that the banks can better reward junior staff who are helping customers deal with the virus.

"It is an act of responsibility at a time when all of us need to act with the utmost commitment and solidarity," Sabadell chairman Josep Oliu said.

Sabadell's decision will be formally announced at an extraordinary board meeting on April 8, the bank said, without giving any further detail about the amounts of money they would forego.

Sabadell's action on bonuses echoes similar decisions undertaken by senior executives at Spanish banks BBVA <BBVA.MC> and Caixabank <CABK.MC>. Two weeks ago, Santander also said its top executives would take a 50% pay cut.

In Barclays CEO Staley's case, the donation of a third of his fixed pay for six months would amount to around 392,000 pounds, or just under 7% of the 5.9 million pounds he earned in 2019.

The British bank's moves comes a week after the Bank of England requested all major UK banks to scrap cash bonus payments to executives and risk takers, as part of capital conservation efforts that also included ditching dividends.

Barclays and none of the other British banks have published details on how they intend to shake up boardroom compensation to comply with the Bank of England's request.

(Reporting By Jesús Aguado and Lawrence White; editing by Jane Merriman)