The Financial Market Authority (FMA) would like to explain the legal status and the responsibilities of state commissioners in banks, as they have been reported by the media in a misleading or wrongful way:
Pursuant to section 76 para 1 of the Bankwesengesetz (BWG; Banking Act), the Federal Minister of Finance has to appoint a state commissioner and a deputy state commissioner for a period of no longer than five years for credit institutions whose balance sheet total exceeds EUR 375 million.
The state commissioner and his deputy are bodies of banking supervision and, therefore, bodies of the FMA since it has begun its operational activities on April 1, 2002. Consequently, they act exclusively as bodies of the independent and autonomous supervisory authority FMA and have to report only to it.
The state commissioner is no supervisory board member pursuant to the Aktiengesetz (AktG; Stock Corporation Act). He is to be invited to the annual general meeting, to all supervisory board meetings as well as to all meetings of supervisory board committees that constitute a quorum. He may not interfere in operational and strategic management; the entrepreneurial responsibility lies solely with the executive board, the owner and his representatives. Therefore, he is not entitled to vote in any of the bodies and forums.
However, the state commissioner has to veto resolutions that violate legal provisions the adherence to which must be monitored by the FMA. In doing so, this resolution is suspended until the FMA has decided on it within a time period specified by law. Such vetoes concern, for example, transactions that go beyond the scope of the licence, or resolutions that exceed legal limits for large investments. He must not rule on credit applications, the creditworthiness of customers or the risk of investments. These issues are solely part of the entrepreneurial responsibility of the executive board and of the supervisory responsibility of the supervisory board pursuant to the Stock Corporation Act.
In the context of the BAWAG affair, the FMA would like to state that BAWAG’s current state commissioner, Mr Helmut Brandl, was appointed in August 2003 and his deputy, Mr Emmerich Bachmayer, in November 2005.
For further information please contact
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0676)/882 49 516