Board and Executive Remuneration in Europe 2026 

Benchmark your approach against the latest executive remuneration practices.

Executive reward decisions are under increasing scrutiny from investors, proxy advisers and other stakeholders. Understanding how comparable organisations are setting pay and structuring incentives is essential to making informed decisions and building shareholder confidence.

Marsh’s Board and Executive Remuneration in Europe 2026 report provides insight into the latest trends and practices shaping executive pay across 250 of Europe’s largest listed organisations. It combines regional benchmarking with market-specific shareholder and governance insight to help Boards and Remuneration Committees assess their reward strategy.

• CEO and CFO salary benchmarks
• Annual bonus opportunities, performance measures and payout levels
• Long-term incentive design, opportunities and vesting outcomes
• Total compensation, executive pay mix and board fee practices
• Shareholder voting trends and remuneration-related concerns
• Analysis across 16 European markets
• Deeper market insights from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordics, Spain, Switzerland and the UK
• Key considerations for investor engagement, transparency and regulation

European reward practices can vary significantly by market, organisation size, ownership structure and governance environment. The report uses data from the largest organisations in the STOXX 600 and provides focused analysis of the major local markets listed above.

Use these insights to put your own reward decisions into context and identify the benchmarks most relevant to your organisation, sector, market and shareholder base.

The 2026 AGM season highlighted the importance of clear rationale, robust pay-for-performance alignment and consistent shareholder engagement. The report explores the issues that can influence investor support, including significant increases in fixed or variable pay, high incentive payouts without a clear link to performance, discretionary or exceptional awards and limited disclosure of incentive outcomes.