former Barclays investment bankers have been paid roughly $1.75m each for just a year-and-a-half's work

revelation that the former Barclays investment bankers have been paid roughly $1.75m each for just a year-and-a-half's work came as the lender disclosed it will be bringing the assets back on balance sheet, ending an episode that is estimated to have cost shareholders $130m.
Barclays disclosed on Wednesday that it will be "acquiring control" of Protium, a company founded in September 2009 with a $12.6bn Barclays loan to take $12.3bn of toxic waste off its books. As part of the deal, about 45 Barclays bankers transferred to a US company, C12 Capital, to manage the assets – receiving an annual $40m fee and a share of any profits. Their number has since swelled to about 80.
Protium has proved controversial, sparking concerns among regulators and shareholders. As originally struck, the deal handed third-party investors and the C12 bankers all the potential upside while leaving Barclays exposed to all the risk.
To extricate itself from the agreement, Barclays has repaid Protium's investors their $450m, as well as about $50m in interest, and awarded the C12 bankers $83m "in accordance with the performance fees that would have been due under the original agreement, based on investment performance to date".
The "performance fees" come on top of the $60m in management fees already earned. Lord Oakeshott, the former Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, asked: "What was going on inside Barclays Capital to be held to ransom by its bankers in this way?"