On 15 April 2025, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published its benchmarking report on remuneration and gender pay gap for institutions and investment firms.

Background

The EBA collects remuneration and gender pay gap data from national competent authorities for benchmarking under the Capital Requirements Directive and the Investment Firms Directive (IFD), both of which include requirements on the variable remuneration of identified staff who have a material impact on a bank’s or investment firm’s risk profile or the assets managed by them.

Findings

The report concludes that there was a material gender pay gap in 2023, with women earning less than men. It notes that remuneration practices in institutions remained stable between 2021-2023, but the ratio between the variable and fixed remuneration in investment firms increased significantly after the IFD was introduced.

The EBA states that the data highlights a need for entities and competent authorities to analyse more closely the reasons for the observed gender pay gap and to address gender pay and gender representation disparities. In light of this, the EBA is also revising its internal governance guidelines with the aim of further improving the monitoring of gender aspects in institutions and investment firms.