President Obama irked Wall Street bankers a few years ago by calling them “fat cats.†But one banker has embraced the name.
This week, Rich Ricci, the head of Barclays investment banking unit, is entering several horses in the Cheltenham Festival, including “Fat Cat in the Hat.â€
At 10/1 odds, Fat Cat in the Hat is one of the favorites at the four-day racehorse event in central England that attracts the country’s high society. If the four-year-old horse wins, Mr. Ricci could take home more than $100,000 in prize money.
The race â€" and Mr. Ricci’s horse â€" is only stoking the long-simmering controversy surrounding the bank. Some lawmakers said it illustrated the gap between high-paid bankers and the wider public that continues to suffer from slow economic growth in Britain.
“It shows how out of touch these bankers are,†the British politician John Mann told a local newspaper.
Last summer, the bank agreed to pay $450 million to American and British authorities over the rate-rigging scandal. Mr. Ricci’s name surfaced in a relation to the inquiry in which some of the firm’s senior managers altered Barclays’ submissions to the London interbank offered rate, or Libor. The efforts were an attempt to mask the bank’s financial position at the height of the financial crisis. Mr. Ricci was not accused of any wrongdoing.
Barclays also came under fire last week after it announced that 428 of its employees still earned more than $1.5 million last year. Five of the bank’s staff members were paid more than $7.5 million in 2012. The compensation package of the American-born Mr. Ricci was not revealed as part of th! e bank’s annual disclosures.
His hobbies aren’t nearly as rewarding, at least financially speaking.
Last year, a horse owned by the Barclays banker called Champagne Fever also took home the first prize at one of the event’s most prominent races that had a total price purse of more than $80,000.
