Executive pay moved further away from employee salaries at Spain's biggest listed companies. The gap reached 67 times in 2025, while three women executives shaped the gender figures at Ibex-35 firms.
Executive pay at Spain's biggest listed companies moved sharply away from employee salaries. At Ibex-35 companies, executives earned 67 times the average employee salary in 2025. The figure was 22 times at other listed firms. It was the highest level recorded since companies began publishing the ratio in 2021.
The figures come from the annual report on directors' remuneration published by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV). The gap grew in both groups. The multiple rose from 55 to 67 at Ibex-35 companies and from 18 to 22 among the rest of the market. Across all listed companies, the ratio reached 42 times, according to the same CNMV data.
Across Spain’s entire listed-company market, executive directors earned an average of 42 times the pay of an average employee in 2025, another record since comparable reporting began in 2021.
The main reason was the sharp rise in executive rewards. Reporting by Servimedia and elDiario.es, based on the regulator's figures, also points to the rapid increase in executive remuneration as the force behind the wider gap.
Spanish listed companies paid their boards an average of €5.4 million in 2025. That was 26.4% more than a year earlier. The figure was heavily affected by €78 million in extraordinary remuneration paid by Telefónica. Without that payment, the increase would have been 10.3%.
Average pay per board member reached €477,000. Executive directors received €2.4 million on average after a 26.3% increase. Non-executive directors saw their pay fall by 1.14% to €173,000. The contrast shows where the increase was concentrated: at the top of the corporate hierarchy, rather than evenly across boards.
The concentration is especially pronounced among Ibex-35 executive chairpersons: their average remuneration was reported at approximately €8.87 million in 2025, while average remuneration per director in the index was about €853,000. These are averages across different roles and should not be treated as equivalent measures.
The gender figures add another distortion. Across all listed companies, female executive directors earned 1.9% less than male counterparts on average. At Ibex-35 firms, women earned 51.6% more than men. At other listed companies, they earned 48.6% less.
The CNMV links that reversal to the very small number of women with executive responsibilities on Ibex-35 boards. There are only three. Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, received €18.5 million in 2025. Her pay made up 71% of all remuneration paid to female executive directors in the index.
Women's presence on company boards continued to rise. They held 37.4% of board seats across listed companies, up 1.1 percentage points, and 42.1% at Ibex-35 firms. Female executive directors reached 10.3%, an increase of two points. Women held 25.6% of senior management positions.
Those senior roles were not spread evenly. Forty percent of female executives worked in legal affairs, human resources, communications and internal audit. The regulator's data showed the lowest female representation in strategy, finance and business.
Corporate oversight also changed. Some 69.7% of Ibex-35 companies had at least half of their board members classified as independent, three points fewer than in 2024. Executive chairmanships edged up to 46.9%. Independent directors chaired 12.4% of boards, compared with 10.3% a year earlier.
The numbers show two different trends. Listed companies are adding more women to their boards and senior ranks. Executive pay, though, is rising much faster than the earnings of ordinary employees. The 67-to-one ratio is the clearest measure in the report of how much corporate rewards are gathering at the top.
