Commerzbank has lost a high-profile legal case which means it has to pay about €50m to 104 bankers in one of the biggest bonus disputes arising from the credit crunch. 德国商业银行(Commerzbank)在一桩令人瞩目的法律诉讼中败诉，将不得不向104名银行家支付约5000万欧元，这是此次信贷危机导致的最大奖金纠纷之一。

The German bank had gone to the UK’s Court of Appeal in an attempt to overturn an earlier court decision that found in favour of the London-based investment bankers, who had claimed they were entitled to a share of bonuses from a €400m pool set up in 2008 to help retain staff. 这家德国银行此前上诉至英国上诉法院(Court of Appeal)，试图推翻一项有利于伦敦投资银行家的法庭裁决，这些银行家声称，他们本应从2008年为留住员工而设的4亿欧元奖金中获得一定比例的分成。

On Friday three judges at the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed Commerzbank’s case. 周五，上诉法院3名法官一致驳回了德国商业银行的要求。

The bankers claim they were promised bonuses ranging from €15,000 to €2m but were awarded a tenth of that. 这些银行家声称，他们曾被许诺将获得1.5万欧元至200万欧元的奖金，但仅获得了其中的十分之一。

The case hinges on what was said at a “town hall” meeting in August 2008 about a €400m bonus pool. The pool was said to have been set up to retain staff ahead of Commerzbank’s acquisition of Dresdner Kleinwort from Allianz. 此案的关键在于2008年8月一次员工大会上所说到的关于4亿欧元奖金的内容。据说这笔奖金的设立是为了在德国商业银行从安联保险集团(Allianz)手中收购德累斯顿银行(Dresdner Bank)之前留住员工。

Lawyers say the ruling could have serious implications for the way that banks communicate with employees in public meetings about sensitive issues such as remuneration and bonuses. 律师们表示，这项裁决可能会对银行在公开会议上与员工就薪酬、奖金等敏感问题进行沟通的方式产生重大影响。

An earlier High Court ruling in 2012 had come down on the side of the bankers and found it was a legitimate inference that pressure from Commerzbank was what drove Allianz to introduce a so-called material adverse change (MAC) clause in 2008 to reduce the payment of bonuses. 此前高等法院(High Court)在2012年的裁决支持银行家一方，该裁决判定，这是一项合理推断：来自德国商业银行的压力促使安联保险在2008年引入所谓的重大不利变化(material adverse change，简称MAC)条款，以减少奖金支付。

It also found that it was clear this pressure was “borne of an understandable sensitivity to the public perception of the payment of bonuses on such a scale in the context of the massive support for Commerzbank by the German government.” 裁决中还认定，很明显，这种压力“出于对公众看法的可以理解的敏感性，因为在德国政府为德国商业银行提供大规模支持的背景下，公众对于如此规模的奖金会抱有看法。”

Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Elias said in his ruling that it was not difficult to imagine that the introduction of an MAC clause would have caused “considerable alarm” among the bankers. 上诉法院的埃里亚斯大法官(Lord Justice Elias)在裁决中称，不难想象，MAC条款的引入会在银行家中间造成“相当大的恐慌”。

He also noted evidence from a witness that the bank “would have had a riot on its hands” if Stefan Jentzsch, the then head of investment banking at Dresdner Kleinwort, had not assured staff at the time that the MAC clause would probably not be implemented. 他还指出，根据一名证人提供的证据，如果时任德利佳华(Dresdner Kleinwort)投行业务负责人斯特凡•詹茨什(Stefan Jentzsch)没有在当时安抚员工称，MAC条款可能不会实施，该银行“本会有一场混乱”。

Commerzbank, which has spent millions of euros fighting the case, is considering its legal options and could now potentially try to appeal against the decision to the Supreme Court. 德国商业银行为打这桩官司已花费数百万欧元，该银行正考虑未来的法律选择，从目前来看，该行可能试图将此案上诉至最高法院(Supreme Court)。