SCOTLAND'S financial sector has amongst the highest gender pay gaps in the country, new research has revealed.

Analysis shows firms such as Standard Life, Aberdeen Asset Management and Royal Bank of Scotland pay men 37% more per hour on average than female employees.

It means that an average woman at these firms earns 63p for every £1 the average man gets paid.

Other finance services companies such as pensions and investment firm Aegon (-27.3%) Clydesdale Bank (-36%), Lloyds Bank Group, which includes Bank of Scotland, (-32.5%) and TSB Bank (-24%) also paid men far more than women on average.

Meanwhile, Dundee-based investment firm Alliance Trust had a -19% pay gap, Scottish Widows -16.5% and Edinburgh-based Tesco Personal Finance was -14.6%.

The figures were revealed after all UK companies with 250 or more employees were required to publish the information by midnight.

The gender pay gap is calculated as the difference between the average salaries of men and women - it is not the same as equal pay, where firms are required to pay people doing the same job the same salary regardless of gender.

Analysis by the BBC shows that Scotland's biggest company, power firm SSE, paid women 19.3% less on average with one of its subsidiary companies, Scottish Hydroelectric Transmission, paying 36.1% less to women.

Another energy giant, Scottish Power, had a gender pay gap of 21.9%, with women being paid less than men.

The National Museums of Scotland was one of the few organisations where women were paid more than men on average (+15%).

Nearly eight out of 10 companies and public sector bodies pay men more than women as the deadline passed for organisations to report their gender pay gaps.

Businesses with 250 employees or more were required to submit the data on mean and median gender pay gaps to the Government Equalities Office by midnight on Wednesday.

Companies who fail to provide data face legal action and there was a last-minute dash to file the information before the deadline - with more than 15% sending their information between Tuesday at 4pm and the cut-off point.

More than 10,000 companies submitted their data, with 78% of the 10,015 firms having a pay gap in favour of men.

Chief executive of the EHRC Rebecca Hilsenrath said: "This is not optional; it is the law and we will be fully enforcing against all companies that do not report. This legislation is in place to bring about better gender equality in the workplace and any employer not complying needs to ask themselves tough questions, re-think their priorities, be prepared for serious reputational damage, and be ready to face a very unhappy workforce."

Some have criticised the exercise, which also applies to charities and public sector bodies, as a crude mechanism open to misinterpretation.

However, gender equality campaigners say it represents an opportunity for employees to talk about pay and find out what their colleagues earn.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: "Gender pay gap reporting is a game changer in terms of workplace culture and practices. It forces employers to look at themselves and understand their organisations and it prompts employees to ask some hard questions.

"But even better than that, finally women are realising that they have a right to talk about pay and they cannot be silenced.

"By finding out what their colleagues earn they are then in a position to challenge any pay inequality. It is much more common than people realise.".

A spokesman for the Institute for Fiscal Studies said: "The gender wage gap has barely fallen over the last 15 years and greater understanding of its determinants are needed.

"The new data being provided by employers could help contribute to that. As ever, however, the statistics are limited and need to be interpreted with care."