Mr Wim Duisenberg, head of the new European Central Bank (ECB), was forced to reveal his salary and promise that details of the bank's decisions would be published. He made the public climbdown before MEPs at the Strasbourg parliament yesterday.

His promise came in the wake of criticisms in the European Parliament of the ECB's secretiveness. MEPs argued that a refusal to explain the reasons behind its decisions would not encourage public confidence.

Mr Duisenberg said his salary would be about 40 per cent higher than that paid to the European Commission's most senior official. That means his gross annual salary will be at least $270,000 (£194,000), with a third of it going in tax. That sum is less than junior traders in London can hope for in an annual bonus.