13.7.2 Has the commission consistently taken into account these relevant characteristics?

Banks in the W-context are obviously characterised by downsizing. Most banks in the C-context committed to reduce the number of branches and employees. With respect to banks in the C-context, it is noteworthy that many core units were subject to these types of downsizing. This is illustrated by the cases of the Spanish banks in 2012. Many Spanish banks were downsized by means of a split up into a core unit and a non-core unit. A further downsizing (of the core unit) was achieved by the commitment in the restructuring plan that the number of branches and staff of the core unit would be reduced. The same holds true for the Portuguese banks (such as BPI).

Banks in the T-context are sometimes subject to a downsizing of their territorial presence. This is illustrated by the case of Banco Gallego, which was taken over by Banco Sabadell. The restructuring plan envisaged a downsizing of the territorial presence of combined entity:

In some cases in the T-context (and S/T/W-context), there is no downsizing of the territorial presence. This was the case with T Bank, Fionia Bank and Dunfermline. The Commission took into account the fact that these are small banks. When the transferred activities are very small, the Commission considers that the distortions of competition caused by the aid to the economic activities are limited.2 In those cases, there is a justification for not requiring a reduction of the branch network of the transferred activities.