The donation is part of Barclays’ new £100 million COVID-19 Community Aid Package which is to be delivered through its newly established group - The Barclays Foundation.

Barclays has said that the donations of the three executives will be matched in full by the company.

It is hoped that the donation of Barclay’s executives will encourage other colleagues who can give something, to do so. 

The bank hopes that the fund will help alleviate the associated social and economic hardship caused by the crisis.

The package is made up of two components:

First, a corporate contribution of £50m, which will be donated to, and deployed via, a variety of charities working to support vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19, and in alleviating the associated social and economic hardship caused by the crisis.

The money will be disbursed principally in the UK, but also in Barclays’ international markets, including the USA and India.

Second, is a £50m commitment by Barclays to match personal donations made by our employees to charities of their choice, local to them, and which are working to support communities impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

In total this initiative represents a corporate commitment overall of £100m by Barclays and potentially translates to up to £150m of aid provided to hard-hit communities through the additional individual donations of Barclays’ employees. 

Jes Staley, Barclays group CEO, said: “As a bank, we have been doing all we can to look after our customers, clients, and colleagues through this crisis, made possible by tens of thousands of amazing and dedicated Barclays people around the world who have been doing their utmost to keep our services running and support the economy.

“We want to do more to back the communities in which we live and work and to provide help to those who have been hardest hit by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.

“That’s why we’ve launched this community aid package, which we hope will make a positive difference, working with charity partners here in the UK and around the world to deliver help where it’s needed most.”

The bank has said that it will be setting out further programmes to assist businesses and households in the coming days and weeks.

Read all of our articles relating to COVID-19 here.