Since Autumn 2024, the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) has published an information series for supervised entities called “Let’s talk about supervision” (German: “Reden wir über Aufsicht”). It addresses current practically relevant supervision topics clearly and concisely, in a way that is also comprehensible for non-legal professionals. It focuses on new areas of supervision and thematic areas where a need for further explanation has been identified. The FMA’s intention behind “Let’s talk about supervision” is the simplification of implementing or fulfilling of legal standards.
Issue 13 – Swift reduction of NPLs: an important task in the credit cycle (March 2026)
Non-performing exposures influence the resilience of the banking sector, the quality of capital planning and the lending channel’s ability to function. Currently the area of commercial real estate (CRE) financing is demonstrating that the short-term and substantial reduction of problematic lending is not only essentially necessary from a supervisory perspective, but is also desirable from an economic operating perspective.
Reden wir über Aufsicht - Zügiger NPL-Abbau (Format: pdf, Size: 223,2 KB, Language: German)
Issue 12 – White papers for “other” crypto-assets: experiences from the first year of Title II of MiCAR (February 2026)
White papers in accordance with Title II of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) form the key basis for transparency and investor protection for “other” crypto-assets. Their objective is to enable investors to clearly identify the opportunities and risks of a project. Providers should lay out their publications in a consistent, complete and non-misleading manner. Since MiCAR has applied, the FMA’s practice in supervision has revealed a range of recurring issues regarding interpretation and implementation.
Issue 11 – Liquidity management for investment funds: a new framework under AIFMD II (December 2025)
The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive II (AIFMD II) brings liquidity management of investment funds up to a new level. This is intended to strengthen the resilience of investment funds under stress situations and to increase investor protection. Assets managers are obliged to select and calibrate additional liquidity management tools (LMTs), and if required to activate them. The FMA places particular value on transparent communication, clear activation criteria and comprehensive documentation.
Issue 10 – Proliferation in Focus: a special risk assessment for sanctions in relation to weapons of mass destruction (November 2025)
The imposing of financial sanctions intended to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (“proliferation”) requires a targeted and separate risk assessment and that obliged entities in the financial sector have the corresponding risk management system in place. The findings of an FMA market analysis that was conducted for the first time this year show that while basic measures are in place at obliged entities for controlling risk, specific requirements in relation to the financing of proliferation are however frequently not addressed in a sufficiently separate manner to general anti-money laundering (AML) measures.
Reden wir über Aufsicht - Proliferation im Fokus (Format: pdf, Size: 233,0 KB, Language: German)
Issue 09 – Simplification with side-effects: regulatory fine-tuning in the Listing Act (October 2025)
The Listing Act leads to a range of changes for issuers, especially regarding prospectus law and market abuse law. The package’s declared objective is simplifications that at the same time safeguard transparency, investor protection and market integrity. There is a paradigm shift in market abuse law regarding ad hoc reportin, which also results in challenges.
Issue 08 – Payment fraud: a holistic approach to prevention (October 2025)
Phishing attacks and attempted scams are among the largest threats for the security of Austrian payments business. The methods used are also becoming increasingly technologically sophisticated, and institutions are facing new challenges. Combating of fraud is only possible thanks to intelligent modern automation-based methods and real-time risk-based analysis. Regarding the new legal requirements, it is essential from the FMA’s perspective that banks identify and remedy their vulnerabilities in this area.
Reden wir über Aufsicht - Betrug im Zahlungsverkehr (Format: pdf, Size: 223,2 KB, Language: German)
Issue 07 – “To bail or not to bail”: The “retail challenge” within the context of bank resolution (April 2025)
Bail-in, i.e. the write-down or conversion of liabilities for loss absorption and recapitalisation purposes, is a central instrument in the resolution of banks. However, implementation of the bail-in may be associated with significant economic and operative challenges. Where it becomes particularly problematic, is where retail investors are affected by a bail-in, as has been impressively apparent in previous resolutions.
Issue 06 – ICT service providers: obtaining an overview from the DORA Register of Information (March 2025)
The resilience of ICT third-party service providers is decisive for the financial sector’s operational resilience. New dependencies and risks, such as concentration risks arise from them. This is why it is important to have an overview. The Register of Information creates such an overview under DORA, by containing a list of all contracts with ICT third-party service providers.
Reden wir über Aufsicht - DORA Informationsregister (Format: pdf, Size: 184,1 KB, Language: German)
Issue 05 – ICT risk management under DORA. Experiences from supervisory practice (February 2025)
Under DORA, ICT risk management plays a key role for controlling ICT security measures. If there are shortcomings in the process, or if risk management is not afforded due consideration when purchasing security solutions or when introducing security measures, there is a risk of inefficiencies and misinvestments. This is a risk that is examined in the on-site inspections conducted by the FMA.
Issue 04 – ESG Funds Names: What’s in a name? (January 2025)
Guidelines have applied for investment funds since 21 November 2024 whose names contain ESG or sustainability-related terms in their names. These Guidelines state that where such terms are used, at least 80% of the investments are required to meet the necessary investment objectives. Funds with ESG-related names will be excluded from making certain types of investments in the future.
Reden wir über Aufsicht - ESG-Fondsnamen (Format: pdf, Size: 218,1 KB, Language: German)
Issue 03 – Identification in non-face-to-face operations (December 2024)
Technological developments are changing the framework conditions in preventing money laundering. This is the case, for example, when transactions are concluded online. The unambiguous and secure identification of customers – within the know your customer (KYC) procedure – constitutes a key measure for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Issue 02 – Group of connected clients (October 2024)
The objective of the provisions in the Capital Requirements Regulations (CRR) for limiting large exposures is to limit the loss potential of a credit institution regard its individual exposures. For these provisions to also apply for clients that are separate entities, but which have dependency relationships with one another, in certain cases they are required to be grouped into risk units.
Issue 01 – Outsourcing of core services by CASPs (August 2024)
In many aspects, the EU Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCAR) uses a system modelled on existing capital market regulations, however in some areas uses other approaches, because the legislator has taken the functioning of distributed ledger technology and the crypto assets based on it into account. In particular, this affects outsourcing provisions for crypto-asset service providers (CASPs).
Please note all publications in this series are currently only available in German.