(1)

Not only the professional activities of the staff members referred to in Article 92(3), points (a), (b) and (c), of Directive 2013/36/EU can have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile, but also the professional activities of other staff members. That will in particular be the case where such staff members have managerial responsibilities for material business units or for control functions because they can make strategic or other fundamental decisions that have an impact on the business activities or on the control framework applied. Such control functions include, typically, risk management, compliance and internal audit. The risks taken by material business units and the way those units are managed are the most important factors for an institution’s risk profile.

(2)

It is therefore necessary to lay down criteria to identify staff members, other than the staff members referred to in Article 92(3), points (a), (b) and (c), of Directive 2013/36/EU, the professional activities of which have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile. Those criteria should take into account the authority and responsibilities of such staff members, the institution’s risk profile and performance indicators, the institution’s internal organisation, and the nature, scope and complexity of the institution concerned. Those criteria should also enable institutions to set proper incentives in their remuneration policies to ensure that the staff members concerned act prudently when performing their tasks. Lastly, those criteria should reflect the level of risk of different activities within the institution.

(3)

Some staff members are responsible for providing internal support that is crucial to the operation of an institution’s business activities. Their activities and decisions can also have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile, because their activities and decisions may expose the institution to material operational and other risks.

(4)

Credit risk and market risk are typically entered into in order to generate business. Depending on the amounts and risk involved, such business activities can have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile. It is therefore appropriate to use criteria based on limits of authority to identify staff members the activities of which can have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile. Those criteria should be calculated at least annually on the basis of capital figures and approaches used for regulatory purposes. To ensure the proportionate application of the criteria within small institutions, however, a de minimis threshold for credit risk should be applied.

(5)

The criteria to identify staff members the professional activities of which have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile should also take into account that for some institutions, the requirements relating to the trading book can be waived under Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) and that in that Regulation limits are set in different ways for institutions using different approaches to calculate capital requirements.

(6)

Appropriate qualitative criteria should ensure that staff members are identified as having a material impact on an institution’s risk profile where they are responsible for groups of staff whose activities could have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile. This includes situations where the activities of individual staff members under their management do not individually have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile but the overall scale of their activities could have such an impact.

(7)

The total remuneration of staff members typically depends on the contribution that staff make to the successful achievement of the institution’s business objectives. That remuneration thus depends on the responsibilities, duties, abilities and skills of staff members, and on the performance of staff members and the institution. Where a member of staff is awarded a total remuneration that exceeds a certain threshold, it is reasonable to presume that such remuneration is linked to the staff member’s contribution to the institution’s business objectives and, therefore, to the impact of the staff member’s professional activities on the risk profile of the institution. It is therefore appropriate to use quantitative criteria related to the total remuneration of a staff member, both in absolute terms and relative to other members of staff within the same institution, to determine whether the professional activities of such staff member could have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile.

(8)

Clear and appropriate thresholds should be established to identify staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile. Institutions should be expected to apply the quantitative criteria in a timely manner. Quantitative criteria should follow developments in remuneration to be realistic. A first method to follow such developments is to base those criteria on the total remuneration awarded in the preceding performance year, which includes the fixed remuneration paid for that performance year, and the variable remuneration awarded in that performance year. A second method to follow such developments is to base those criteria on the total remuneration awarded for the preceding performance year, which includes the fixed remuneration paid for that performance year and the variable remuneration awarded in the current performance year for the preceding financial year. The second method provides for a better alignment of the identification process with the actual remuneration awarded for a performance period, but can only be applied where a timely calculation for the application of the quantitative criteria is still possible. Where such calculation is no longer possible, the first method should be used. Under either method, the variable remuneration can include amounts that are awarded based on performance periods that are longer than one year, depending on the performance criteria used by the institution.

(9)

Article 92(3) of Directive 2013/36/EU sets a quantitative threshold of EUR 500 000 combined with the average of the remuneration of members of the management body and senior management for the identification of staff the activities of which have a material impact on the risk profile of a material business unit. Remuneration above that quantitative threshold or amounting to one of the highest remunerations within the institution thus establishes a strong presumption that the activities of staff receiving such remuneration have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile, in which case more supervisory scrutiny should be applied to establish whether the professional activities of such staff members have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile.

(10)

Staff members should not be subject to Article 94 of Directive 2013/36/EU where institutions establish on the basis of additional objective criteria that the activities of such staff members does in fact not have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile, taking into account all risks to which the institution is or may be exposed. To ensure effective and consistent application of those objective criteria, competent authorities should approve the exclusion of the highest earning staff members identified under the quantitative criteria. For staff members that are awarded more than EUR 1 000 000 (high earners), competent authorities should inform the European Banking Authority (‘EBA’) before approving exclusions, so that the EBA can assess the consistent application of those criteria.

(11)

In order for competent authorities and auditors to be able to review the assessments carried out by institutions to identify their staff whose professional activities have a material impact on their risk profiles, it is critical that institutions keep record of the assessments made and their results, including of staff who have been identified under criteria based on their total remuneration but whose professional activities are assessed as not to have a material impact on the institution’s risk profile.

(12)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 604/2014 (3) should be repealed. Investment firms as defined in Article 4(1), point (2), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 should, however, not bear unjustified costs when complying with this Regulation. Delegated Regulation (EU) No 604/2014 should therefore continue to apply to such firms until 26 June 2021, date by which Member States must adopt and publish the measures to comply with Directive (EU) 2019/2034 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4).

(13)

This Regulation is based on the draft regulatory technical standards submitted to the Commission by EBA.

(14)

EBA has conducted open public consultations on the draft regulatory technical standards on which this Regulation is based, analysed the potential related costs and benefits and requested the advice of the Banking Stakeholder Group established in accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5),

(1)

‘managerial responsibility’ means a situation, in which a staff member:

(2)

‘control function’ means a function that is independent from the business units it controls and that is responsible to provide an objective assessment of institution’s risks, review or report on those, including, but not limited to, the risk management function, the compliance function and the internal audit function;

(3)

‘material business unit’ means a business unit as defined in Article 142(1), point (3), of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 that meets any of the following criteria:

(a)

the risk profile of the material business unit;

(b)

the distribution of internal capital to cover the nature and level of the risks, as referred to in Article 73 of Directive 2013/36/EU;

(c)

the risk limits of the material business unit;

(d)

the risk and performance indicators used by the institution to identify, manage and monitor risks of the material business unit in accordance with Article 74 of Directive 2013/36/EU;

(e)

the relevant performance criteria set by the institution in accordance with Article 94(1), points (a) and (b), of Directive 2013/36/EU;

(f)

the duties and authorities of staff members or categories of staff in the material business unit concerned.

(a)

the staff member has managerial responsibility for:

(b)

the staff member has managerial responsibilities for any of the risk categories set out in Articles 79 to 87 of Directive 2013/36/EU, or is a voting member of a committee responsible for the management of any of the risk categories set out in those Articles;

(c)

with regard to credit risk exposures of a nominal amount per transaction, representing 0,5 % of the institution’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital and which is at least EUR 5 million, the staff member meets one of the following criteria:

(d)

in relation to an institution for which the derogation for small trading book businesses set out in Article 94 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 does not apply, the staff member meets one of the following criteria:

(e)

the staff member heads a group of staff members who have individual authorities to commit the institution to transactions and either of the following conditions is met:

(f)

the staff member meets either of the following criteria with regard to decision on approving or vetoing the introduction of new products: