More bankers in Germany earn more than one million euros a year

More and more bankers in Germany earn more than one million euros a year. According to the remuneration report of the EU banking regulator European Banking Association (EBA), the number rose to 492, compared to 450 a year earlier. This increased the number of income millionaires in the German banking sector by around a tenth. However, it should be noted that the figures relate to the year 2019 - before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. The average total remuneration was accordingly 1.7 million euros. According to the EBA, the best-paid of them should have earned around 16 million euros in 2019. Most of the very well paid bankers work in investment banking. It is different in Germany. Of the 492 millionaires in Germany, 298 work in management. The report does not say who the 16 million euro banker is. But it could be the former investment banking director and vice-head of Deutsche Bank Garth Ritchie. He left the bank in 2019 and received a severance payment of 11.2 million euros. The Business Insider portal reported a year ago, citing annual reports, that Ritchie's total compensation was around 16 million euros. According to the survey, bankers earned best in London in 2019. There were a total of 3,519 top earners in the financial center on the Thames. Britain not only led the salary league, however. With an annual salary of almost 65 million euros, the best-earning banker was also able to pocket a much higher sum than in Germany. Five other bankers made it over the threshold of 20 million euros. Together, Europe's top bankers earned around 9.9 billion euros in 2019. Of this, 7.3 billion euros were generated in Britain alone. According to the EBA, in addition to Germany, France and Italy are among the countries with the greatest increase in bankers who earn more than one million euros a year. The authority explains this development with the move of many top earners from Britain in connection with Brexit to mainland Europe. In a European comparison, Germany is doing well. The average of all EU banks, which at the time also included those from Britain, said there was hardly any change with an increase of 0.5 percent to a total of 4963.