(Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc has delayed the final decision on the bonus pool for this year after top investment bankers asked for more time to reflect business they won in recent days or expect to win. 

Investment bankers argue capital-markets activity has been picking up and that the bonus pool should take that into account, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision has now been delayed to early next year, after business leaders had asked the remuneration committee for extra time, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private

Barclays typically publicly discloses the size of the bonus pool around February. While bonus discussions are always fluid, it would usually have made the decision on the overall pot by now.

Barclays declined to comment.

The move comes at a challenging time for investment banks generally and Barclays specifically. Mergers and acquisitions globally dropped to a 10-year low this year, with only sporadic signs of improvement. That would typically translate into a bleak bonus season for bankers, at a time when Barclays is working to retain talent.

The corporate and investment bank, led by Paul Compton, suffered an exodus of top bankers in the U.S. after a leadership reshuffle that elevated two relatively recent hires, Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright, into leadership roles at the advisory unit. Barclays, which prides itself as Europe‘s sole transatlantic investment bank, has slipped in the M&A league tables this year. 

The dealmaking slump has added to homemade challenges for Chief Executive Officer C.S. Venkatakrishnan and Chairman Nigel Higgins, who are struggling to revive a stock that’s been lagging behind peers. The bank’s largest shareholder — Qatar Investment Authority — has sold almost half of its stake, a surprise move ahead of the bank’s upcoming investor day in February.

Management tapped Boston Consulting Group earlier this year to do a wide-ranging review of the firm’s strategy, a move that has sparked angst among high-ranking bankers and low-level staffers alike.

In November, Compton told staff his unit consumes too much capital relative to the rest of the group, suggesting he may look to expand capital-light activities such as advisory. He has told staff the bank needs to work harder to get advisory mandates from clients the bank is lending to.

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