ZURICH, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Average CEO pay at Swiss

blue-chip companies rose 7.4% year-on-year to 8.3 million Swiss

francs ($10 million) in 2024, proxy advisory firm Ethos said on

Thursday, remaining below U.S. and UK levels but among the

highest in continental Europe.

Median CEO earnings at the largest-listed companies were 19

million francs ($24 million) in the United States and 7.3

million francs in Britain, compared to 7.1 million francs in

Switzerland last year, it said in a study of CEO remuneration.

The increase in average CEO pay at the 20 biggest companies

on the Swiss stock exchange was driven by a large increase at

Partners Group, with growth accelerating over the past

two years, Ethos said.

Flemming Ornskov, CEO of skin care company Galderma

topped the list at 19 million francs, followed by UBS

CEO Sergio Ermotti and his counterparts David Layton at Partners

Group and Vasant Narasimhan at Novartis, the study

showed.

Still, differences between awarded and realised remuneration

due to long term incentive plans meant that Jan Jenisch, former

CEO of cement manufacturer Holcim, effectively made

45.8 million Swiss francs in 2024, Ethos calculated.

Salaries earned by company bosses have been a contentious

issue in Switzerland for years, with voters in 2013 backing a

binding say for shareholders over executive pay, and a

parliamentary committee this year drafting strategies to rein in

bankers' pay.

($1 = 0.8068 Swiss francs)