The pay of senior executives working at Dutch stock exchange listed companies rose by an average 5% last year, according to calculations by the Volkskrant.

Add to that an estimated 23% increase in bonuses and the average annual salary of a chief executive was €4.4m, excluding pension contributions, the paper says.

Top of the list is Nancy McKinstry, head of information provider and publisher Wolters Kluwer, who earned €15m last year, a rise of 20% on 2014.

Erik Engstrom of Relx – formerly Reed Elsevier – is in second place with a pay package of €12.7m and Heineken’s Jean Francois van Boxmeer is third, with a deal worth €12.6m.

Bottom of the list of 21 companies looked at by the Volkskrant is ABN Amro boss Gerrit Zalm, with a salary deal worth €1.05m.