Top US fund manager Mario Gabelli, chairman of Gabelli Asset Management, received a compensation package worth $38m (€32m) last year, an increase of almost $1m on the year before. This coincided with a 70% surge in pre-tax profits at the investment house.

His pay deal ranks him among the highest-paid chief executives of any publicly traded asset management company in the world, far outstripping such peers as Ed Haldeman, chief executive of troubled US firm Putnam, who earned $13.1m last year.