City workers enjoy bonus bonanza as asset manager pockets £29.3m payout

More than 4,000 City workers raked in bonuses of one million euro (£862,000) or more in 2015 - with one financier pocketing a 34 million euro (£29.3 million) payout.

Figures released by the European Banking Authority (EBA) revealed the number of high earners - workers who earn one million euro or more - jumped by 33% to 5,142 in 2015.

It found that 80% of the bumper payouts were made in the UK - Europe's financial centre - where 4,133 took home hefty rewards.

It added that 178 of the high earners were in France, 279 were in Germany and 26 in Ireland.

The biggest single payout was made in the UK, where an asset manager received a 34 million euro payout, with the largest pay award in Germany reaching close to 14 million euro (£12 million).

However, despite the overall rise, the number of people handed bonuses of one million euro or more declined in Hungary, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.