CEOs of companies listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange They pocketed, on average, 2.6 million euros in 2023, almost 14% more than the previous year. And on the other side of the scale, The CEOs of these same companies have cut their salaries by 11%, up to 2 million euros. These are the conclusions drawn by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) after analysis of the annual reports on executive compensation listed companies, as well as those of corporate governance – by their acronyms, CIRC and IAGC – corresponding to the 2023 financial year.
From the same study it is clear that last year, the remuneration of executive directors, without extraordinary remuneration, It represented 31 times the average salary of employees of those mentioned. If we focus on the Ibex 35, the ratio rises to 53 times (3.2 million euros, compared to 61,000 euros). Two years ago, the CNMV began to include in its annual report this type of comparison between the salaries of ordinary workers and those of managers in management positions. In the case of the Ibex 35, the ratio has decreased slightly, from 60 times in 2021 to 53 times in 2023.
Women have gained weight on boards of directors: they represented 34.5% of their members in 2023, compared to 31.9% a year ago in the entire Continuous Market; on the Ibex, it reached 40.1%. On the other hand, the weight of women executive directors increased by 2.3 percentage points, reaching 9%; These professionals earn 13.5% less than their male counterparts..
Particularly striking How has the presence of independent directors increased?. The number of companies holding at least 50% of these figures increased from 67.7% in 2022 to 78.8% in 2023. The CNMV establishes, in Recommendation number 17 of its Code of Good Governance, that the number of independent directors represents at least half of the total number of directors. Their role helps to compensate for the strong presence of relevant or controlling shareholder groups on boards of directors. According to Mario Lara, director of the Esade Corporate Governance Center, “the boards of directors of listed companies need strong and sufficiently independent directors to ensure that the interest of all shareholders, whether or not they are represented on the board, is taken into consideration”.
It has also increased the weight of ESG (environmental, social and good governance) factors in salaries. 80% of Ibex 35 companies already take this type of criteria into account in their long-term variable compensation plans, i.e. 18 points more than in 2022.
