Barclays Awards Chief Executive Diamond $11 Million Bonus

Barclays Plc (BARC) gave Robert Diamond as much as 10.1 million pounds ($16.5 million) in salary, bonuses and stock, making him the U.K.’s top-paid bank chief executive officer as the government presses lenders to curb remuneration.

Diamond was awarded a 6.5 million-pound bonus for 2010 and a further 2.25 million pounds depending on the lender’s performance, London-based Barclays said in a statement today. His base salary will rise to 1.35 million pounds from 250,000 pounds after he became CEO on Jan. 1.

The government is pushing banks to curb pay after it was forced to bail out the industry during the credit crisis and as it enacts the deepest-ever reductions in public spending. Diamond, 59, told lawmakers last month that his bank, which didn’t receive direct government aid, would exercise restraint when paying bonuses and that was time for firms to end “the period of remorse and apology” and start boosting confidence.

“Diamond tries to convince taxpayers that the era of remorse and regret within banking is over, yet he has no shame in pocketing a seven-figure bonus,” Unite trade union General Secretary Len McCluskey said in a statement today. “There is no possible justification for this highly paid individual taking home this enormous windfall.”