A total of 43 FCA staff were paid more than £200,000 each last year, analysis of the regulator’s annual report by Financial Planning Today has revealed.

Directors’ salaries ranged up to £492,000 with eight directors earning more than £300,000 a year.

Some 28 senior executives were paid a package of between £240,000 and £299,000, the FCA's Annual Report & Accounts 2024/25 published yesterday showed.

The 2025 pay review resulted in an overall average salary increase of 3.8% for FCA staff as of 1 April although some younger staff (under 20) received increases of up to 12%.

The salary increases resulted in an average salary across all FCA staff of £73,588 (2024: £71,290).

The highest paid FCA worker during 2024-2025 was chief executive Nikhil Rathi, whose total remuneration package was £559,000, up from £531,000 the previous year. That included basic salary of £492,338, up from the previous year’s £470,000, plus pension contributions of £67,000, up from £61,000.

Source: FCA Annual Report & Accounts 2024/25

Mr Rathi was awarded a 4.8% salary increase in April 2024. The average base salary increase across the FCA was 4.8%, down from 6.8% in April 2023. The overall average salary increase was 4.7% for men and 5% for women.

The next highest earner after Mr Rathi was deputy chief executive Sarah Pritchard whose total remuneration, including pension, was £389,000.

Next were Stephen Braviner Roman, general counsel and executive director of legal, risk, compliance and corporate governance, and Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, who were both paid £382,000.

Jessica Rusu, chief data, information and intelligence officer, earned £380,000 while Emily Shepperd, chief operating officer, took home £379,000. Just below that was Sheree Howard, executive director, authorisations on £376,000, and Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight on £375,000.

The only other director earning more than £300,000 was Sheldon Mills, executive director, consumers and competition, who was paid £332,000.

Source: FCA Annual Report & Accounts 2024/25

FCA’s chair Ashley Alder, who was appointed in February 2023, saw his fee for the year remain at £170,000.

The report revealed that salary increases for senior managers last year ranged from 1.3% to 5.8%, awarded on an individual basis considering among other things, performance, the scope of their role and pay relative to their peers. The fee for non-executive directors remained at £35,000 a year, with an additional £10,000 paid to any non-executive director who was also appointed to chair a committee of the board.

Seven non-executive directors were paid a total of £328,000 during the year, up from £302,000 the previous year.

Source: FCA Annual Report & Accounts 2024/25

The FCA had already revealed earlier this year that staff received a pay rise averaging 3.6% from April this year.

The rise is above 12 month CPI inflation which was 3% in January. The increase was potentially set to be higher but the FCA said it had to take into account the increased costs of the rise in Employers’ National Insurance. 

• FCA's Annual Report & Accounts 2024/25