Even the most casual observer will know that understanding how much investment banks pay their staff, how they pay them, and when they carry the cost of doing so is a (perhaps deliberately) murky affair.

So Barclays should be applauded for shining a spotlight on its own bonus arrangements when it reported its annual results this month. Under no regulatory obligation, the UK bank published details of its bonus arrangements at group level and at Barclays Capital, where 17% of the group's employees shared 71% of the group bonus pool.