3. Remuneration policies and group context

In accordance with Article 25 of Directive (EU) 2019/2034, investment firms must, without prejudice to the derogations foreseen under Article 32(4) of Directive (EU) 2019/2034, comply with all requirements of Articles 26, 30, 31, 32 and 33 of that Directive. This includes the applicable Regulatory Technical Standards regarding remuneration. The requirements and their specifications within these guidelines apply on an individual basis and, where applicable, on a consolidated basis as referred to in Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2033.

At the consolidated level, the Union parent undertaking and competent authorities should ensure that a remuneration policy is implemented and complied with for all staff, including all identified staff, in all investment firms and other entities within the scope of prudential consolidation and all branches. The remuneration policy should be gender neutral. Specific remuneration requirements of subsidiaries should be taken into account.

Regarding investment firms and entities within a group located in more than one Member State, the group-wide remuneration policy should specify how its implementation should deal with differences between national implementations of the remuneration requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/2034.

When applying the requirements on a consolidated basis, the remuneration requirements applicable in the Member State where the Union parent undertaking is located apply, including to identified staff who have a material impact on the group’s risk profile, even if implementation of the requirements within Articles 30 and 32 of Directive (EU) 2019/2034 by the Member State where the Union parent undertaking is located is stricter.

Staff seconded from a parent undertaking in a third country to an EU subsidiary that is an investment firm or a branch who, were they employed directly by the EU investment firm or branch, would fall into the scope of identified staff of that EU investment firm or branch, are identified staff. Such seconded staff should be subject to the remuneration provisions within Directive (EU) 2019/2034 as they are implemented in the Member State where the EU investment firm or branch is established and to applicable Regulatory Technical Standards. For the purposes of short-term secondments, for example where a person is only residing in a Member State for a few weeks to carry out project work, that person should be subject to such provisions only if the person would be identifiable under the RTS on identified staff, taking into account the remuneration awarded for the relevant time period and the role and responsibilities during the secondment.

Short-term contracts or secondments must not be used as a means of circumventing the remuneration requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/2034 and any related standards or guidelines.

The remuneration requirements of Directive (EU) 2019/2034 and the provisions of these guidelines apply to investment firms in Member States independent of the fact that they may be subsidiaries of a parent investment firm or an institution in a third country. Where an EU subsidiary of an parent investment firm in a third country is a Union parent undertaking, the scope of prudential consolidation does not include the level of the parent investment firm located in a third country and other direct subsidiaries of that parent investment firm. The Union parent undertaking should ensure that the group-wide remuneration policy of the parent investment firm in a third country is taken into consideration within its own remuneration policies as far as this is not contrary to the requirements set out under relevant EU or national law, including these guidelines.