Pecuniary sanctions against corporations in the financial sector: a compounding of dubious upper limits

Abstract

This contribution covers the methods by which the maximum amount of pecuniary sanctions against corporations in the financial sector is determined. The alternative recourse to absolute, turnover-based and profit-based upper limits combines problematic regulatory developments of recent times. This contribution advocates for a systematic approach that differentiates strictly between the confiscatory and the sanctioning part; the upper limit of the sanctioning part should be determined by the abstract gravity of the violation.