Top Spanish bankers up remuneration by 48% since 2004

SPAIN The average remuneration for top executives and board members of the top 15 Spanish banks and building societies rose by 48% in the 2004-2010 period - almost double the growth shown for those entities for that period: 27%. The figures come from a Comfia-CCOO (union) survey that also reports rises of 80% for the nine building societies included - whose profits dropped by 7%. As far as the banks are concerned, average remuneration went up by 52% and profits by 46%. One of the building societies, Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM) saw remuneration for top executives rise by 94%, while for its board members, it went up by an astounding 542%. Profits, on the other hand, rose by only 46%, and this principally for having received considerable help from the government. This building society was bought recently by Banco Sabadell, as the only bidder in an auction that attracted much attention but no buyers. Another financial institution that received public money, CatalunyaCaixa, saw its profits for that period plummet by 53%, but remuneration for top execs and board members rose by 93%. There is a lot more, but our nerves have given away to shouting at the dog, who has absolutely no impact on this subject, poor chap.