Barclays Plc, the parent company of
Barclays Global Investors, is offering senior staff options to buy up to a 20 percent equity stake in the fund management unit over the next three years.
The options are ammunition for the firm's "war on talent," says
Tom Taggart, spokesman for the San Francisco-based firm. He hopes that the options will become a valuable recruiting tool, much like the equity offered by
Putnam and
MFS.
Although published reports have indicated that the compensation is a new development, shareholders endorsed the formation of a new holding company and associated equity agreement back in April. "The formation of the new holding company was a formal recognition that we are a unique business within Barclays Plc," says Taggart.
The moves seem to indicate that the U.S.-based fund management unit is gaining greater independence from the British parent company. Speculation about a possible IPO is following like clockwork.
Not so, says Taggart. He claims that the new arrangement will further integrate the management business and the bank. "We'll shortly be serving other organizations with Barclays Plc," says Taggart. Which organizations? Taggart isn't saying.  
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