Paul Idzik, the American chief operating officer of Barclays who is quitting later this year, will leave with tens of millions of pounds even though he is not getting a pay-off.

Idzik, who told chief executive John Varley in January that he intended to, leave is not on the bank's board so his pay has never been made public.

But insiders say that as his first job at Barclays was to sort out investment banking business Barclays Capital, it is likely he was rewarded with large share options and deferred bonuses payable in shares. Barclays president Bob Diamond, who took over running BarCap from Idzik, earned £21 million last year.

Barclays today tried to play down talk of any rifts in its senior management. Some commentators claimed Idzik played a vital role in keeping the peace between Varley and Diamond. But a spokesman said: "Reports of a row are arrant nonsense and utterly untrue."

Idzik's departure comes at a sensitive time for Barclays as it appears to resist calls for a rights issue to bolster its balance sheet after the credit crunch. Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS have already tapped investors for an extra £16 billion of capital.

Analysts also predict Barclays will have to announce up to another £1.5 billion of subprime-related writedowns later this month.