Britain's banks show they have learned nothing as figures reveal top bankers' salaries soared by more than a THIRD in 2012

Top bankers got pay rise of 11% between 2011 and 2012

Number of bankers on more than €1m was 2,714 last year



That was TEN TIMES more than Germany which came SECOND on the list



Five years on from the financial crisis that brought the global economy to its knees, it appears the British banking sector hasn't learned much: figures released today showed the pay of the so-called 'Masters of the Universe' soar by a third last year.

Average total pay - including salaries, pensions and bonuses - for London's top-earning bankers surged 35 per cent to €1.95million (£1.6million) in 2012 , the European Banking Authority said.

The figures show that, after a lull in pay awards in the wake of the banking meltdown, the UK's banks soon resumed bonanza bonus payments to their top staff worth nearly four times annual salaries.

Bonus culture: There have been numerous protests against the amount bankers are paid in bonuses in the past but the EBA data suggests they have achieved nothing

And they picked up bonuses averaging 3.7 times their base salary, up from 3.5 in 2011.



It means 2,714 bankers in the UK earned more than €1million (£833,000) last year - an 11 per cent rise on last year - by far the highest number of any other country in Europe and ten times the number of highly paid bankers in Germany, which came second on the list.

The EBA data showed 212 bankers earned more than €1million in Germany, followed by France with 177,Italy with 109 and Spain.with 100.



In the UK, 81 per cent of the highest earners work in investment banking, with the rest split across asset management, retail banking and other business areas.



The figures will enrage politicians, regulators and the public like. Official figures recently showed average wages nationally have risen by less than 1 per cent in the last year.



Meanwhile, public sector workers including doctors, nurses, firemen and police officers, social workers and civil servants have seen wage rises frozen at just 1 per cent a year since 2010.

Over the same period consumer price inflation has been as high as 5 per cent and remains above the Bank of England's 2 per cent target today.



The steep rise in bonuses last year puts the City on a collision course with the new European Union bonus cap set to come into force in 2014.



The UK employs more than three-quarters of the EU's highest-earning bankers - highlighting how many London staff would fall foul of the new EU rules that will cap bonuses to a year's salary - or a maximum of two years if shareholders approve.



It will have an impact on so-called code staff, who are senior, investment bankers.

Chancellor George Osborne has filed a formal complaint against Brussels over the plans amid fears the move will backfire and drive up salaries.

The Treasury lodged legal action in September, arguing the EU had gone beyond its remit in seeking to regulate bonuses, which it claims had been decided without proper consultation and with no impact assessment.

But banks are understood to be planning to sidestep the rules by handing out monthly payments to affected staff.

Barclays reportedly told workers recently it was introducing monthly role-based pay, which will depend on the role of the staff member and the performance of the bank overall.



