Articles

Europe Proxy Season 2026: CEO Pay Rises, Support Holds

Below is an excerpt from ISS-Corporate’s recently released article “Europe Proxy Season 2026: CEO Pay Rises, Support Holds”. 

The full article is available on ISS-Corporate’s resources page.   

As the 2026 proxy season in Europe moves past its peak, pay for CEOs across the STOXX Europe 600 shows a consistent upward momentum. The median CEO pay increased from €2.99 million in fiscal 2021 to €3.52 million in fiscal 2025, an 18% increase. The STOXX 600 serves as a broad European benchmark, and its trajectory highlights how overall CEO pay across the largest issuers in the region is increasing gradually but steadily over the years. However, the rate of increase has accelerated, recording the largest single-year increase of 11.2% so far in FY2025, likely reflecting shifting competitive landscape for executive talents as well as strong market performance in Europe.

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Authored By

Stephan Stegmueller, Compensation & Governance Advisory, ISS-Corporate
Pablo Hijano, Compensation & Governance Advisory, ISS-Corporate
Gulam Gaus Khan, Data Analytics, ISS-Corporate

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