The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) welcomes today’s parliamentary decisions on fundamental financial market legislation such as the Banking Intervention and Restructuring Act (BIRG; Bankeninterventions- und -restrukturierungsgesetz), the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Act (AIFMG; Alternative Investmentfonds Manager-Gesetz), as well as the legal transposition of decisive measures pertaining to the new European supervisory regime, known as Basel III. “These laws show that we have learnt our lessons from the global financial crisis, and they provide us with new and additional tools to ensure efficient and effective supervision,” state FMA Executive Directors Helmut Ettl and Klaus Kumpfmüller.
“The Austrian Banking Intervention and Restructuring Act (BIRG) is an important first step towards the new European regulation on the recovery and resolution of banks. This has been indispensable and complements the new uniform system of European banking supervision through the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) established at the European Central Bank (ECB),” says Ettl. In addition, the measures also decided upon today regarding the implementation of Basel III form a further foundation to strengthen banks’ capitalisation and liquidity, and provide supervisors with additional tools to make credit institutions more resilient to crises and shocks,” adds Kumpfmüller. The AIFMG, finally, closes a regulatory and supervisory gap which brings the Austrian financial market a crucial step closer to the G 20 heads of government principle that no market, no provider and no product should escape supervision any longer.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-5106
+43/(0)676/882 49 516