The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) was responsible for the supervision of 1,093 licensed companies and assets of some € 1,360 billion during the year under review, supported by a staff of 325 and having a budget of € 48.0 million. This emerges from the 2012 Annual Report, which was presented by the FMA’s Executive Directors Helmut Ettl and Klaus Kumpfmüller today. “The importance of Austria as a financial centre for Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe is indicated alone by the fact that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rates us as one of the 25 system-relevant financial sectors worldwide,” Ettl stated, also mentioning that the IMF in its recent country evaluation had expressed praise and recognition for the Austrian supervisor’s work. Ettl’s fellow Executive Director Klaus Kumpfmüller considered it “a consequence and recognition of the FMA’s consistent, professional efforts” that the Authority continued to be mandated with additional and new tasks, such as in area of money laundering prevention and as the enforcement office for accounting standards.
In 2012 the FMA carried out 241 on-site inspections and 327 management talks within its sphere of supervision, which more or less equals the number in previous years (233 on-site inspections in 2010 and 235 in 2011; 291 management talks in 2010 and 321 in 2011). The same applies to administrative penal proceedings: there were 531, only slightly fewer than in previous years (2011: 569; 2010: 543). Of these proceedings, 99 were discontinued without result, 156 ended with an admonition issued. In 212 cases a penal order was issued and 163 proceedings were concluded with a penal decision. Additionally, the FMA submitted 88 statements of the facts to the public prosecutor during the year under review.
“Our sustainable supervision strategy, in line with the FMA’s motto of ‘competence – control – consistency’, is bearing fruit: Austria’s quality as a financial marketplace has been further enhanced. We have strengthened consumer protection, limited the risks of banks, improved transparency and fairness, and enhanced cleanliness in the financial market,” Ettl summed up. Fellow Executive Director Kumpfmüller underscored Ettl’s observations with some figures: “For example, the Core Tier 1 ratio of banks increased from 7.7% to 11.0% in just five years, the solvency ratio among insurers was maintained at the reassuringly high level of 350%, despite turbulence in the global financial markets, and we have applied very stringent criteria to investment firms and investment service providers, leading to sustained professionalism and reducing the number of providers licensed by the FMA to about 170 or roughly one half.”
Of its € 48 million in expenses in 2012, the FMA was required to transfer a lump sum of € 8 million to Oesterreichische Nationalbank as reimbursement for its costs. The Federal Government contributes a lump sum of € 3.5 million towards financing the FMA, and an additional € 3.7 million (2011: € 3.2 million) was covered by fees and other income in 2012. As stipulated by law, the majority of the remaining costs of supervision are to be contributed by the supervised entities according to the share incurred in each case. Of these costs, totalling about € 40.7 million (2011: € 38.1 million), banks contributed a 52% share, insurance undertakings 21%, Pensionskassen 3% and investment firms 24%.
The major challenges for the FMA in 2013, according to Ettl and Kumpfmüller, will be to set up the enforcement office for accounting standards, to implement the new European banking supervision under the European Central Bank’s leadership (Single Supervisory Mechanism) and to lay the groundwork for the new capital regime for banks and insurers, Basel III and Solvency II.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0676)/882 49 516