Alison Carnwath, according to one City grandee who has served on boards with her, is no pushover on pay. She takes a harder line than most non-executive directors, he says, concluding that she received rough treatment at Barclays' AGM last week, where 21% of shareholders voted against her re-election.
On this portrait, Carnwath, head of the bank's pay committee, is a doughty battler seeking reform and the real sticking-point is chairman Marcus Agius' lack of interest in confronting a well-paid executive class that sees nothing objectionable in distributing £2.1bn in bonuses and only £700m in dividends.
It's an interesting view. But many City fund managers aren't prepared to treat Carnwath gently. Yesterday she suffered a second bruising confrontation with investors. A third of votes at Man Group, where Carnwath is also a non-executive, did not support her re-election. Carnwath has been on Man's board for more than a decade. She also sits on the beleaguered hedge fund's managers pay committee, which won't have won over many waverers.
But the rebellion against her at Man appears to have been a spillover from Barclays. A large part of the City club just don't like her and that's a problem for someone who, wearing yet another hat, is chair of Land Securities.
Carnwath, though, did herself few favours last week. Her formal address to the bank's meeting was a head-down affair which ignored occasional heckles, committed herself to nothing and admitted no fault. When it came questions from the floor on pay, Agius handled the lot. Not good enough. Nobody forced her nine months ago to be chair of Barclays' pay committee and the option of resignation is open if she feels undermined.
To continue in the role – and to avoid being seen as a patsy – she should discover an independent voice, if she has one.
