THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive (EU) No 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms, amending Directive 2002/87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC [OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, p. 338.], and in particular Article 94(2) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Variable remuneration awarded in instruments should promote sound and effective risk management and should not encourage risk-taking that exceeds the level of tolerated risk of the institution. Therefore classes of instruments which can be used for the purposes of variable remuneration should align the interests of staff with the interests of shareholders, creditors and other stakeholders by providing incentives for staff to act in the long-term interest of the institution and not to take excessive risks.

(2) In order to ensure that there is a strong link to the credit quality of an institution as a going concern, instruments used for the purposes of variable remuneration should contain appropriate trigger events for write down or conversion which reduce the value of the instruments in situations where the credit quality of the institution as a going concern has deteriorated. The trigger events used for remuneration purposes should not change the level of subordination of the instruments and therefore should not lead to a disqualification of Additional Tier 1 or Tier 2 instruments as own funds instruments.