TOP bosses at Barclays were given a rough ride by shareholders angry at “obscene” pay packages.

A series of private investors used the bank’s annual meeting yesterday to complain that dividend payments had fallen since the financial crisis while high-flying staff were still commanding enviable salaries and bonuses.

The heated event came hours after Barclays revealed that pre-tax profits dropped by 9% to £1.66bn in the first quarter of 2011 as income and profits at its investment banking arm fell sharply.

Some 11% of the votes cast at the meeting in London failed to back the remuneration report, which spelled out plans to pay new chief executive Bob Diamond a package worth up to £28m.

Under the terms of the scheme, Mr Diamond is paid £1.35m a year, some 23% more than his predecessor John Varley.

He is also set to receive a bonus of £6.5m for 2010, a future conditional share award of £6.75m and £13.8m of shares he is owed as part of previous long-term performance plans.

The remuneration report also contained plans to pay some staff bonuses via a bond that will attract interest of 7% a year until they mature.

One shareholder, Trevor White, told board directors their bonuses were “obscene” and claimed the bank’s high earners were set to trouser nearly as much as before the financial crisis struck.

Chairman Marcus Agius defended the bank. “How would you have thought of us if we had underpaid our staff and they had chosen not to stay with the bank?” he asked.

Mr Diamond also denied rumours that Barclays could move its headquarters overseas if the Government’s reforms for the banking industry prove too demanding.