Is bashing Barclays bankers justified?

I’ve just come from a small protest outside a nearby branch of Barclays bank.

On the day that Barclays announces its 2011 results customers are queuing up to close their Barclays bank accounts. Why? Many of them had complaints about customer service which is perfectly valid reason for closing your account, but not really a reason to do so in protest on results day.

Others were worried about Barclays’ ethical investment policies. Most seemed to have a vague sense that the bank was making too much money at our expense and paying themselves too much. A popular view of all banks at the moment.

But is that what Barclays results tell us? Although the government are not above a good bit of banker bashing themselves they have also been warning that we are in danger of creating a hostile business climate in Britain that will damage the economy. So is it time to stop bashing bankers and worrying about Bob Diamond’s bonus and start celebrating his success?

Read more: Barclays boss says banks should be allowed to fail

What is it that we want our banks to do?

Lend to small businesses? Check. Barclays exceeded their Project Merlin lending targets loaning about £15bn

Don’t take too many risks? Check. They have in bank speak “strengthened their Tier One Capital Ratio to 11 per cent”. Or in other words they are keeping more money on hand for a rainy day.

Turn a profit to help grow the British economy? Check. Pre tax profits are nearly £6bn pounds.

Don’t make excessive profits? Check. They are down 3 per cent on last year. Not great news for shareholders but not exactly a disaster either. No taxpayer bailout needed here.

And, of course, reduce excessive bonuses? Check. The total bonus pool is down about a quarter, although it is still £1.5 bn.

Cash bonuses are capped at £65,000. And although Bob Diamond won’t yet tell us exactly what his bonus will be, payouts at the very top will be down by about 48 per cent this year which will probably means that Diamond’s will be around £3m. I don’t think there is much chance he will be “doing a Hester” and refusing it.

Firstly his bank is not owned by the taxpayer. But he is also bitter that no one gives him credit for the fact that he waived his bonuses in 2008 and 2009 so I don’t think he will see much upside in giving it up this year.

Read more: Anatomy of a state-owned bank

Diamond said on a conference call this morning that the mood toward banks and bankers is not positive.

And that’s from the man who was once described by Peter Mandelson as the “unacceptable face of banking” long before there was any kind of anti-banker witch hunt.

But Barclays must be feeling pretty positive about these numbers. Profits are down a little but the numbers will be largely uncontroversial.

In fact if you worked in Barclays press office these are probably exactly the numbers you were dreaming of being able to release. If you are a Barclays shareholder you might feel differently.