Benchmark Report: CEO Pay, Incentive Design and Board Remuneration Trends across the Stockholm Large Cap 2026
How are leading Swedish companies responding to changing expectations on executive pay, incentive design and board remuneration? Our 2026 benchmark analyses 95 Stockholm Large Cap companies to reveal where market practice is stable – and where meaningful shifts are emerging.
Use the report to compare your arrangements with market ranges, challenge programme design and support informed discussions with remuneration committees, boards and executive management. It combines independent market data with practical insight into pay outcomes, incentive structures, pensions, governance and board fees.
What does the report cover?
CEO remuneration
- Base salary, STI and LTI achievement rates, pensions and total CEO remuneration across the Large Cap market.
STI and LTI outcomes
- Maximum STI opportunities, KPI breakdowns of prevalence, weightings and achievement
New long-term incentive programmes for 2026
- Programme types, dilution, participants, performance conditions and emerging LTI structures proposed at the 2026 AGMs.
Board remuneration
- Chair, board and committee fees, together with board composition and representation based on 2026 AGM proposals.
What are the key findings?
The 2026 benchmark points to a market that is broadly stable, but with several notable shifts in outcomes, programme design and governance.
CEO pay continued to rise
- Median CEO total remuneration reached MSEK 16.84 in 2025, an increase of 2.1%, while the spread between companies remained significant.
Short-term incentive outcomes fell sharply
- Median STI achievement declined from 73% to 53% of maximum in one year, indicating more demanding performance conditions and greater differentiation in outcomes.
Financial measures still dominate long-term incentives
- Financial KPIs accounted for 94% of total LTI weighting, while ESG and other non-financial measures represented only 6%.
LTI adoption remained strong
- At the 2026 AGMs, 78% of Large Cap companies adopted an LTI programme—and every proposal submitted to shareholders was approved.
Board diversity presents a mixed picture
- Women held 40.8% of board seats, yet the proportion of female board chairs declined from 10.9% to 7.4% in 2026.
Who is the report for?
The report is designed for remuneration committee and board members, HR and reward leaders, executives, legal and governance professionals, and advisers who design incentive programmes, review remuneration structures or prepare decision-making materials.
Johan Andrée
Amanda Olsson
Pontus Wallin
