LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Nearly a hundred highly paid bankers left Britain ahead of its departure from the European Union, the bloc's banking watchdog said on Wednesday, the latest confirmation of how Brexit has reshaped Europe's financial sector and its tax base.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) said in its annual survey of bankers earning a million euros ($1.17 million) or more a year that Britain saw a drop of 95 high earners in 2019,

The country still accounted for 71% of the 4,963 bankers in the top pay category across the bloc in 2019 in a sign of how London remained by far Europe's biggest financial centre, with a total of 380,000 people employed in Britain's banking industry according to figures from TheCityUK.

The million euro threshold includes basic pay, bonuses, long-term awards and pension contributions.

Britain fully left the EU's orbit in December 2020 and by that time many banks and other financial firms had relocated over 7,000 staff from London to new or expanded hubs in the bloc to ensure customers retained full access to the EU financial market.