2019 Universal registration document and annual financial report - BNP PARIBAS 175

4Consolidated finanCial statements for the year ended 31 deCemBer 2019

4

Notes to the financial statements

1.j EMPLOYEE BENEFITS Employee benefits are classified in one of four categories:

■ short-term benefits, such as salary, annual leave, incentive plans, profit-sharing and additional payments;

■ long-term benefits, including compensated absences, long-service awards, and other types of cash-based deferred compensation;

■ termination benefits;

■ post-employment benefits, including top-up banking industry pensions and retirement bonuses in France and pension plans in other countries, some of which are operated through pension funds.

Short-term benefits

The Group recognises an expense when it has used services rendered by employees in exchange for employee benefits.

Long-term benefits

These are benefits, other than short-term benefits, post-employment benefits and termination benefits. This relates, in particular, to compensation deferred for more than 12 months and not linked to the BNP Paribas share price, which is accrued in the financial statements for the period in which it is earned.

The actuarial techniques used are similar to those used for defined- benefit post-employment benefits, except that the revaluation items are recognised in the profit and loss account and not in equity.

Termination benefits

Termination benefits are employee benefits payable in exchange for the termination of an employee s contract as a result of either a decision by the Group to terminate a contract of employment before the legal retirement age, or a decision by an employee to accept voluntary redundancy in exchange for these benefits. Termination benefits due more than 12 months after the balance sheet date are discounted.

Post-employment benefits

In accordance with IFRS, the BNP Paribas Group draws a distinction between defined-contribution plans and defined-benefit plans.

Defined-contribution plans do not give rise to an obligation for the Group and do not require a provision. The amount of the employer s contributions payable during the period is recognised as an expense.

Only defined-benefit schemes give rise to an obligation for the Group. This obligation must be measured and recognised as a liability by means of a provision.

The classification of plans into these two categories is based on the economic substance of the plan, which is reviewed to determine whether the Group has a legal or constructive obligation to pay the agreed benefits to employees.

Post-employment benefit obligations under defined-benefit plans are measured using actuarial techniques that take demographic and financial assumptions into account.

The net liability recognised with respect to post-employment benefit plans is the difference between the present value of the defined-benefit obligation and the fair value of any plan assets.

The present value of the defined-benefit obligation is measured on the basis of the actuarial assumptions applied by the Group, using the projected unit credit method. This method takes into account various parameters, specific to each country or Group entity, such as demographic assumptions, the probability that employees will leave before retirement age, salary inflation, a discount rate, and the general inflation rate.

When the value of the plan assets exceeds the amount of the obligation, an asset is recognised if it represents a future economic benefit for the Group in the form of a reduction in future contributions or a future partial refund of amounts paid into the plan.

The annual expense recognised in the profit and loss account under Salaries and employee benefits , with respect to defined-benefit plans includes the current service cost (the rights vested by each employee during the period in return for service rendered), the net interests linked to the effect of discounting the net defined-benefit liability (asset), the past service cost arising from plan amendments or curtailments, and the effect of any plan settlements.

Remeasurements of the net defined-benefit liability (asset) are recognised in shareholders equity and are never reclassified to profit or loss. They include actuarial gains and losses, the return on plan assets and any change in the effect of the asset ceiling (excluding amounts included in net interest on the defined-benefit liability or asset).

1.k SHARE-BASED PAYMENTS Share-based payment transactions are payments based on shares issued by the Group, whether the transaction is settled in the form of equity or cash of which the amount is based on trends in the value of BNP Paribas shares.

IFRS 2 requires share-based payments granted after 7 November 2002 to be recognised as an expense. The amount recognised is the value of the share-based payment granted to the employee.

The Group grants employees stock subscription option plans and deferred share-based or share price-linked cash-settled compensation plans, and also offers them the possibility to purchase specially-issued BNP Paribas shares at a discount, on condition that they retain the shares for a specified period.