Barclays gave Roger Jenkins £50m payoff, court hears

Star Barclays banker Roger Jenkins was handed a £50m payoff when he left in the wake of the financial crisis, a court has heard.

Known as "Big Dog" by some of his colleagues, Mr Jenkins was viewed as the gatekeeper to Barclays’ relationship with Qatari investors and played a crucial role in securing their cash for a 2008 rescue deal which saved the lender from a state bailout.

The bumper golden goodbye was in addition to his annual pay of about £39m - meaning the banker would have been handed almost £80m, just a year after the crash sent the global economy tanking and hit living standards for millions of ordinary people.

Details of Mr Jenkins' exit package were discussed in court as part of a case brought by financier Amanda Staveley, who claims she was treated unfairly when representing Abu Dhabi investors during the rescue and is suing Barclays for £1.6bn.

It emerged last week that Mr Jenkins, who co-hosted a lavish charity party with actor George Clooney at his £30m Mayfair mansion just after securing the Qatari funds, had referred to her as "the tart" and "that dolly-bird" while discussing the cash injection with a colleague at the time.

Ms Staveley's client Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan became the bank's largest shareholder after contributing £3.5bn to the rescue deal.

Former Barclays chief executive John Varley said earlier in the trial that Ms Staveley's firm was greatly overstating its role in the rescue 12 years ago. It kept Barclays out of taxpayer hands, unlike rivals Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Ms Staveley's credentials were also dismissed by Mr Jenkins, who once dated model Elle Macpherson. He argued in his witness statement that she "had no qualifications in finance" and was a "complete unknown" in terms of large, complicated transactions.

Mr Jenkins said that before the deal he had met Ms Staveley once at a lunch in the south of France, but knew little about her other than the role she played in Sheikh Mansour's purchase of Manchester City Football Club and the fact she owned a "restaurant by a racecourse, and that was how she had made connections with Middle Eastern individuals".

This is Mr Jenkins' third day of questioning. The case continues.