Big redundancy packages at Barclays, head of U.S. rates trading quietly departs

How much is Barclays offering its people to go without a fuss? As we reported yesterday, Barclays' London operations have been leaking senior staff ever since the bank announced plans to make nearly 30% of the employees at its investment bank redundant by 2016. London-based employment lawyers say they've been swamped by departing Barclays' staff, many of them bearing large redundancy packages.

"I've had several people coming out of Barclays with more than £100k," said one lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of upsetting his clients. "They're definitely paying a good whack to people who've been there a long time." Ronnie Fox, an employment lawyer at Fox Lawyers, said the standard redundancy package for people coming out of Barclays is one month of pay for every year of service. Pay is defined as salary plus the additional fixed payment introduced to help mitigate the European Union's bonus cap.

This makes Barclays' redundancy packages comparatively generous. Philip Landau, of law firm Landau Law, said redundancy payments in the City of London are typically one month's salary per year of service, and that fixed payments are not usually included in the calculation.

Barclays' declined to comment on its redundancy terms. Recruiters said the British bank has been offering payments above the legal minimum in order to expedite its departures. Under UK law, its necessary to offer a 45 day consultation period to employees before laying them off, but Barclays' staff have allegedly been encouraged to sign away this right in return for the generous payments.

Michael Graf, a senior U.S. rates trader, has also left

Separately, another senior member of Barclays' investment bank has also departed.  Michael Graf, who was promoted to the head of U.S. interest rates trading in New York in 2012, left in January - a fact that appears to have gone unreported.

Graf was promoted to head of U.S. interest rates in September 2012, but left the firm in January to little fanfare, according to sources close to the situation. Previously, he was global head of agency debt and short-term interest-rate trading at the bank, but was promoted to his most recent position following the exit of Ritankar ‘Ronti’ Pal during the summer of 2012 in the wake of the Libor rate fixing investigation.

He is the latest in a string of senior exits at Barclays, which in the U.S. include Americas chief executive Skip McGee and global head of M&A, Paul Parker.

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