Brussels, 13/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - All member states, except Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden and Romania, have implemented the possibility for banks to increase the maximum ratio between the variable and the fixed remuneration to 200% with shareholders' approval, explains a report from the European Banking Authority (EBA) published on Thursday 12 November.
Of the over 24,000 banks that could make use of the mechanism in the EU, 15,000 - 63% in total- made use in 2014 of the doubling of bank bonuses in line with the new rules for banking introduced that same year. Unsurprisingly, most of these banks are in investment banking in the United Kingdom (6,461 bankers), Germany (3,399) and France (2,397).
The EBA notes that in eight member states, no bank has so far made use of the possibility to increase the maximum ratio.
Hunting for new types of allowances. In a separate report published the same day (following an opinion published in October 2014 (see EUROPE 11177), the EBA discusses European banking sector practices on role-based allowances (RBA) that are often used to artificially boost fixed pay and get around the upper limit on bonuses. The EBA says national supervisory bodies have taken action to ensure respect of the EU rules although such measures will, in most cases, only be effective for the remuneration awarded for the 2015 performance year. For the 2014 performance year, the EBA analysed the disclosures of 35 institutions' remuneration policies, observing that eight banks paid out RBA as part of the fixed remuneration after the publication of the EBA Opinion.
Finally, the EBA has identified two new types of allowances in Austria and Finland that artificially boost fixed pay by means of performance-related share appreciation rights. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)