On 10 April 2018, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report on benchmarking of remuneration practices in EU banks for the financial years 2015 and 2016 and high earners data for 2016.

The report has been developed in accordance with Article 75 of the CRD IV which mandates the EBA to use the data disclosed by institutions to benchmark remuneration trends and practices and to collect information on the number of individuals per institution that are remunerated EUR one million or more per financial year (high earners) in pay brackets of EUR one million, including the business area involved and the main elements of salary, bonus, long-term award and pension contribution.

The report notes that in 2016, the number of high earners in EU banks receiving remuneration of more than EUR 1 million decreased by 10.6%. In addition, for high earners, the average ratio between the variable and fixed remuneration continued to decrease from 127% in 2014 to 118% in 2015 and 104% in 2016. In addition, the ratio between the variable and fixed remuneration of all other identified staff, decreased from 65.5% in 2014 to 62.2% in 2015 and 57.1% in 2016.

The EBA states that the lower number of high earners was mainly driven by changes in the exchange rate between EUR and GBP, which led to a reduction of staff income paid in GBP when expressed in EUR.