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Consumer-, Investor- and Creditor protection
One of the FMA`s tasks is monitoring compliance with the Rules of Conduct pursuant to the Securities Supervision Act (Articles 11-18). The scope of the Rules of Conduct extends, in essence, to the following investment services: investment advice, brokerage of securities transactions, asset management, trading in securities and third party issuing of securities.
The FMA examines the complaints it receives in order to evaluate whether the Rules of Conduct have been violated while providing the above mentioned services or whether financial services have been offered without a licence. In case an initial suspect is confirmed, the FMA is authorized to gather evidence and in the following procedure the FMA may introduce administrative penalty proceedings. Such proceedings can result in administrative fines up to € 20, 000,-.
The FMA underlines the fact that in administrative penalty proceedings complainants do not have the status of a plaintiff and therefore no right to the inspection of files. Moreover, the decision-making bodies and the staff of the Financial Market Authority are bound by official secrecy and as a result cannot give any information regarding the progress or the result of an examination to complainants.
There is no legal basis or obligation for the FMA to support investors to get their rights. Independently from the activities of the FMA in such a case, the aggrieved party itself has to take legal action against the relevant financial services undertaking (in front of a civil court) in order to obtain any compensation.
You may also contact the VKI - Verein fuer Konsumenteninformation (www.konsument.at) (an Austrian organisation for consumer information and consumer protection), the IVA - Interessenverband für Anleger (Austrian Shareholder Association) (www.iva.or.at) (an Austrian association for the protection of the interests of the investors), the Arbeiterkammern (The Chambers of Labour) in the individual federal provinces (e.g. www.akwien.or.at, www.edvg.co.at, www.arbeiterkammer.com, www.ak-sbg.at) as well as investor protection schemes.
In this context, we would also like to refer to the Rechtanwaltskammern (Austrian Law Association) located in the individual federal provinces for specialist advice or legal representation.
