The Financial Market Stability Board (FMSG; Finanzmarktstabilitätsgremium) held its 48th meeting on 09 April 2026. The press release about the meeting can be found on the FMSG website (currently in German only) at <a href="https://fmsg.at/publikationen/presseaussendungen/2026.html" type="link" id="https://fmsg.at/publikationen/presseaussendungen/2026.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" class="external">FMSG – Presseaussendung</a>.
The most important topics of the meeting:
Countercyclical Capital Buffer
The FMSG has issued a recommendation to the FMA to maintain a countercyclical capital buffer (CyCB) of 0% of domestic risk-weighted assets. At year-end 2025, three out of sixteen indicators displayed increased cyclical risks, while both indicators in relation to the Credit-to-GDP gap with a stronger weighting remained below the critical thresholds.
Details are contained in Recommendation FMSG/1/2026 (currently in German only). The dashboard on systemic cyclical risks is published by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) in an interactive form on its website.
War in the Middle East, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Stablecoins
The Board determined that the Austrian financial sector’s direct exposures to the region exposed to the war in the Middle East are low. Potential knock-on effects such as a weaker economic outlook as well as increasing inflation and interest rates were discussed as ancillary risks.
The existing macroprudential capital buffers and the banking sector’ sound capitalisation make a significant contribution to its resilience. Conservative distributions of profits provide additional support of its risk bearing capacity.
The impacts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Stablecoins on financial market stability were also established. The risks arising from Stablecoins are currently estimated as being low, although the FMSG will continue to observe developments.
Annual Report 2025
In 2025, the FMSG focused in particular on the systemic risks in commercial and residential real estate financing as well as evaluating the buffer for other systemically important institutions (OSII) as well as determining the Countercyclical Buffer (CCyB) on a quarterly basis.
The 2025 Annual Report will be submitted to the Federal Minister of Finance, the Finance Committee of the National Council and published on the FMSG website.
Macroprudential Strategy
The FMSG’s macroprudential strategy was revised in the meeting in cooperation with the FMA and OeNB. The revisions take into account changes in legal frameworks as well as new findings and methods.
The updated strategy has been published on the Board’s website (in German only).