11.4.2 Has the Commission consistently taken into account this relevant characteristic?

In 43 decisions (of in total 90 cases), it is mentioned that the bank will adapt its remuneration policy. In 1 decision, the Commission explicitly indicated that a remuneration restriction was not necessary.1 Thus, in (43+1=) 44 decisions, the Commission has assessed whether the relevant characteristic was present.2 An overview of these decisions is provided in the table in Annex VII.

An intriguing finding is the following: several Restructuring Decisions do not mention remuneration restrictions, even though these cases were characterised by remuneration restrictions. In that regard, it should be recalled that bank support schemes always provide for some behavioural safeguards and that one of these behavioural constraints is the limitation of executive remuneration. Indeed, as touched upon in section 8.8, remuneration restrictions can be found in 23 bank support schemes. Banks are sometimes subject to remuneration restrictions, but this is not always taken into account in the Restructuring Decisions. To give an example: AIB/EBS participated in the Irish guarantee scheme and was therefore subject to several behavioural constraints, including remuneration restrictions. The Rescue Decision on AIB/EBS – though it does not speak of remuneration restrictions – mentions that the bank is subject to behavioural constraints as a result of its participation to the Irish guarantee scheme. By contrast, the Restructuring Decision does not mention the behavioural constraints under the scheme at all. Thus, the remuneration restrictions were taken into account in the assessment of the proportionality of the State aid measures (i.e. the first stage of the compatibility-assessment), but they were not taken into account in the assessment of the restructuring plan (i.e. the second stage of the compatibility-assessment).