More British bankers earn 1 mln stg than in rest of EU-study

* EBA data shows top earners would bust bonus cap

* Shows 2,436 bankers in UK got 1 mln euros or more in 2011

* Compares with 170 in Germany who earned more than 1 mln

* 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, the bloc's banking regulator said on Monday.

Publishing figures on bank pay for the first time, theEuropean Banking Authority (EBA) said 2,436 bankers based in theUK pocketed 1 million euros or more in 2011.

Of that total, 1,809 worked in investment banking, 85 inretail banking, 182 in asset management and 360 in otherbusiness areas, the EBA said in a report which is part ofdata-gathering efforts as it draws up rules to help it apply thebonus cap.

The cap will apply to awards for performance in 2014 andonwards.

Britain had opposed the cap, which will limit bonuses to nomore than fixed salary, but was outvoted by EU countries whobelieve it will help stop excessive risk-taking intended to winlarge awards, as in the run-up to the financial crisis.

The EBA - which has proposed 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 - said just170 bankers based in Germany earned more than 1 million euros.

It found 162 similarly well rewarded in France, 125 inSpain, 96 in Italy and 36 in the Netherlands.

The UK figures include high earners from domestic playerssuch as HSBC Holdings Plc and Barclays Plc, aswell as from units of banks based elsewhere in the EU, such asDeutsche Bank AG, and from other internationallenders such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JP MorganChase & Co.

The EBA's data on the ratio of fixed pay to bonuses showedthe vast majority of high earners in 2011 would have bust thecap 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.