Remuneration Policy

Key aspects of IBERCLEAR remuneration policy

On October the 29th 2019, IBERCLEAR’s Board of Directors adopted the remuneration policy of BME Group.

BME Group remuneration policy, adopted by IBERCLEAR as its own policy, is devised to ensure the proper procedures in order to allow for the perfect alignment of market dynamics in terms of remuneration and the strategic business objectives of the Company.

The underlying principles for determining the Company's remuneration policy are:

• To reinforce the strategic objectives established by BME Group.
• To promote the attachment, retention and engagement of employees.
• To prevent any type of direct or indirect gender-based discrimination.
• To compensate individual performance, dedication, work quality and degree of responsibility.
• To treat equally similar job positions, distinguishing job functions with different characteristics and taking into account their relative significance.
• To comply with the remunerations regulations, specifically the remuneration of professionals with impact on risk profile, regulatory compliance and internal audit.

Scope of application

The scope of the BME Group Remunerations Policy is (i) people who have an employment relationship with BME or with any of the companies that form part of the BME Group, and (ii) people who have suspended their employment relationship with any of the companies that form part of BME Group as a result of their status as members of the management bodies of companies that form part of BME Group with executive responsibilities (executive Directors).

Components of the remuneration system

Fixed Remuneration

Fixed remuneration is the basic element of the Remuneration Policy of the BME Group.

It is linked to the characteristics of the job position, its organizational relevance and the scope of responsibility assumed by each employee. It consists in two main blocks:

1. Basic salary that remunerates the employees for their knowledge, experience and scope of their position, and is established in the collective agreement (applicable to the companies that form part of the BME Group).
2. Personal complement that remunerates the professional career, the responsibility of the job and the professional level exercised and determined by the content of the position occupied.

Variable Remuneration

Established in favour of a group of professionals depending on their professional level and the position occupied. It is designed to those employees who perform more than necessary to comply with their responsibilities, and according to the degree of achievement of the Individual and Area Objectives, defined at the beginning of the year by each one of the Area or Business Unit.

The variable remuneration applicable to people working in risk management, regulatory compliance and internal audit will be determined mainly by the degree of achievement of the Individual and Area Objectives based on the activities and functions attributed to them and under no circumstances will these criteria be linked to the Company assuming greater exposure to risk.

Medium - and long - term incentive programs

BME has established successive medium - and long - term incentive programs aimed at attaching, retaining and engaging principally the management and relevant personnel of the BME Group companies.

These programs include Variable Compensation Plans in Shares based on the assignment to the beneficiaries of a number of theoretical units that will serve as a basis for calculating the shares that will be delivered as the case may be, provided that the objectives are fulfilled.

These Variable Compensation Plans in Shares are approved by BME Shareholders’ General Meeting.

Social Benefits

BME Group companies include social benefits for all its employees as part of their remuneration package some of these social benefits are considered payment in kind for tax purposes. Its regulation and scope are regulated in the collective agreement.