ABN Amro, the Dutch bank locked in merger talks with Barclays, awarded its chief executive a 2.8% pay rise in 2006, one of the smallest increases for a European banking head revealed this year.

Chief executive Rijkman Groenink was paid €3.66m ($4.88m) last year, less than a 3% increase on his pay in 2005, after the bank posted a 7.6% rise in overall profits.