{
  "id": 7477209,
  "title": "Europe’s boardroom pay gap with North America narrows amid battle for expertise",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/europes-boardroom-pay-gap-with-north-america-narrows-amid-battle-for",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-15T04:36:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/europes-boardroom-pay-gap-with-north-america-narrows-amid-battle-for-expertise/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "European financial institutions have been actively narrowing the boardroom pay gap with North America, as they strive to attract top talent for their increasingly complex challenges. According to a study by EY, European non-executive director remuneration surged by 10% in 2025, more than double the 4.5% increase in North America. This growth has reduced the transatlantic pay gap by 27%, with many European directors now out-earning their North American counterparts. The average remuneration for European financial services boards reached $314,148 in 2025, up from $285,487 in 2024. In contrast, North American financial services boards saw a 4.5% rise in average pay to $350,847, from $335,821. Following Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC) boardroom pay increased by 4.7% to $273,006, up from $260,648. While North America still leads in remuneration, the pay gap narrowed to 10.5% in Europe in 2025, down from 15% the previous year. The wealth and asset management sector experienced the most significant increase, with average remuneration rising by over 11% to $368,680. Board chair remuneration grew more than twice as fast as other directors due to the complexity of the role and the challenging leadership environment. EY's Omar Ali noted that the widening gap between chair and other director remuneration, particularly in Europe, indicates that companies are assigning greater financial value to the accountability of top-level executives. Although the gender split in boardrooms has improved, pay disparity remains a challenge, with women directors earning significantly less than their male peers in Europe. In the UK, for instance, female non-executive directors earn £795,000 less than their male colleagues annually. Despite a growing number of women in executive positions, the average pay gap persists, with female directors earning £476,000 compared to the £1.27m earned by male directors at FTSE 100 companies.",
  "summary": "European financial institutions have aggressively closed the transatlantic pay gap at board level, driven by efforts to attract top-tier and specialist talent as boards face into a growing range of complex challenges. An EY analysis of more than 2,000 financial sector directors shows European non-executive remuneration surged 10 per cent in 2025, more than double [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Politico EU",
        "title": "America’s democratic decline is becoming Europe’s problem, new report says",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/15/americas-democratic-decline-is-becoming-europes-problem-new-report",
        "published": "2026-09-15T00:01:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}