The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) welcome the “Recommendation of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) on lending in foreign currencies”.
“The ESRB thus expressly supports the position of the Austrian supervisory authority, which has been warning about the cumulative risks produced by foreign currency loans for many years now and which took drastic measures to limit the risks stemming from them,” says FMA Director Helmut Ettl, referring to the relevant FMA Minimum Standards and information campaigns. They have brought new foreign currency lending to households to an almost complete standstill and reduced the outstanding volume of foreign currency loans in Austria since autumn 2008 by more than 16 per cent (adjusted for currency risk).
“The ESRB warns insistently about the significant systemic risk potential entailed by excessive levels of foreign currency lending, thus escalating the issue to a European level for the first time,” says OeNB Director Andreas Ittner. For the first time since its establishment, the ESRB is addressing the national supervisory authorities, the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the EEA Member States with its recommendations. The FMA and the OeNB agree that this is an important step to find common cross-border strategies in international endeavours to limit risks entailed by exposures to foreign currency loans and to implement them effectively and efficiently.
The ESRB recommendations can be downloaded from the ESRB website www.esrb.europa.eu
Journalists may address further enquiries to
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0)676/882 49 516
Dr. Christian Gutlederer (OeNB)
+43/(0)1/404 20-6609
+43/(0)664/515 36 18