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* EBA data shows top earners would bust bonus cap
* 2,436 bankers in UK earned 1 mln euros or more in 2011
* Compares with 170 in Germany
* Banks already changing how they pay top staff
By Huw Jones
LONDON, July 15 (Reuters) - More bankers in Britain earned 1million euros ($1.3 million) in 2011 than in the rest of theEuropean Union combined and would easily bust a planned cap onbonuses, figures from the bloc's banking regulator showed onMonday.
Publishing figures on bank pay for the first time, theEuropean Banking Authority (EBA) said that 2,436 bankers basedin the UK pocketed 1 million euros or more in 2011.
The EBA's proposed cap sets a basic 500,000 euro salarythreshold, above which a bonus can be no higher than fixed pay,or twice fixed pay if there is shareholder approval.
Britain had opposed the cap but was outvoted by EU countriesthat believe it will curb excessive risk-taking intended to winlarge awards, as in the run-up to the financial crisis. The capwill apply to awards for performance in 2014 and onwards.
Of the British bankers earning more than 1 million euros,1,809 worked in investment banking, 85 in retail banking, 182 inasset management and 360 in other business areas, the EBA saidin a report that is part of data-gathering efforts as it drawsup rules to help it to apply the bonus cap.
Senior bankers in Spain, the banking sector of which had tobe bailed out by the European Union in 2012, had the highestaverage pay of any EU country in 2011 at 2.44 million euros - amillion euros higher than in Britain.
The regulator said that only 170 bankers based in Germanyearned more than 1 million euros. It found 162 similarly wellrewarded in France, 125 in Spain, 96 in Italy and 36 in theNetherlands.
"The data show what has been feared for some time," NicholasStretch, of law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, said.
"Because London has a very large number of people withvariable high pay, the forthcoming bonus capping rules ... willhave a particular impact on our financial services industry andlead to extensive changes in how remuneration is provided."
The UK figures include high earners from domestic playerssuch as HSBC Holdings and Barclays, as well asfrom units of banks based elsewhere in the EU, such as DeutscheBank, and from other international lenders includingGoldman Sachs Group and JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Some countries, such as the Czech Republic and Estonia, hadno million euro earners, while Poland, a sizeable country in EUterms, mustered only four.
Ireland, which was almost bankrupted by its banking crisis,had 21, most of whom worked in investment banking. The keyScandinavian banking centre of Sweden, meanwhile, had only 14.
The EBA's data on the ratio of fixed pay to bonuses showedthat the vast majority of high earners in 2011 would have bustthe cap by between two and four times, with London's investmentbankers at the top end of the scale.
Banks are changing how they pay staff to ease the impact ofthe cap, such as by bumping up fixed pay to bring down theratio.
