The highest earner in FTSE 100 was the chief executive of mining company Xstrata, Mick Davis (£18.4 million), followed by the lead executive at consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser (£17.9 million) and the top executive at inter-dealer money broker ICAP (£13.4 million).

Unite union branded the earnings revelations as a "display of boardroom greed" and called for more power for shareholders to limit "excessive" boardroom pay.

"This is an astonishing display of boardroom greed. It is exactly why people have been occupying St Paul's to protest against the behaviour of the City elite and a government which is turning a blind eye to these abuses.

"Institutional shareholders need to exercise much greater scrutiny and control of directors' pay and bonuses. The government should be strongly considering giving shareholders greater legal power to question and curb these excessive remuneration packages," said Len McCluskey, Unite's general secretary.