Barclays Bank has appointed city heavyweight Crawford Gillies the remuneration committee, to replace the current under-fire chair Sir John Sunderland.

Barclays has appointed city heavyweight Crawford Gillies to the remuneration committee, to replace the current under-fire chair Sir John Sunderland.

Barclays said in a statement that Gillies will become a non-executive director and a member of the board remuneration committee with effect from 1 May, and it is intended he will succeed Sunderland at a “date to be agreed”.

The move is seen as a response to the criticism Barclays has received for increasing bonuses despite a dramatic fall in profits and comes ahead of the bank's annual general meeting on 25 April.

Sunderland has faced intense pressure from shareholders and business groups for rubber-stamping an increase in bonus payments by 10 per cent to £2.4 billion ($3.9 billion) following a fall in underlying profit of 32 per cent to £5.2 billion, which the bank attributed to restructuring and development plans.

At the time, chief executive Anthony Jenkins said the bonuses were necessary to retain talent and avoid a potential “death spiral”.

Sunderland famously told the banking standards commission last year that former chief executive Bob Diamond, who was forced to leave the bank in 2012, deserved his £2.7 million bonus for 2011, in spite of Barclays paying out millions for rigging Libor while under his tenure.

Sir David Walker, group chairman, said he was “delighted” that Crawford has agreed to join the Barclays board.

“He brings immense experience in a range of different industries, including the financial services sector, in addition to a background in strategy and the public sector,” Walker said.

Gillies has over three decades of business and management experience, initially with international management consultants Bain & Company, where he was managing director for Europe from 2001 to 2005.

Since 2007, he has been on the board of Standard Life, where he has chaired the remuneration committee. From 2006 to 2009, he was chairman of the law firm Hammonds, now Squire Sanders, and he has chaired Control Risks Group Holdings since 2007. He also chaired Touch Bionics from 2006 to 2011 and joined the board of MITIE Group in 2012.

Gillies has held public sector posts in England and Scotland. He was an independent member of the Department of Trade and Industry from 2002 to 2007 and chaired its audit and risk committee between 2003 and 2007. He is currently chairman of Scottish Enterprise and he is a former chairman of the Confederation of British Industry in London.