Tomorrow, 4 November 2014, the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) will become operational. As a consequence, responsibility for banking supervision within the euro area will be transferred to the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB will also take over direct supervision of the 120 most significant groups of credit institutes – which have all been recently subjected to a comprehensive health check – the “Comprehensive Assessment”. Credit institutions or regional importance will continue to be supervised by national supervisory authorities – in Austria more than 550 credit institutes will remain under the FMA’s direct supervision.
The eight Austrian credit institutions that will be directly supervised by the ECB – BAWAG P.S.K, Erste Group Bank AG, Österreichische Volksbanken AG, Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG, Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien reg. Gen.m.b.H., Raiffeisenlandesbank Oberösterreich AG, Sberbank Europe AG and VTB Bank (Austria) AG – will from now on be supervised by Joint Supervisory Teams (JSTs), staffed by ECB and national competent authorities. Consequently, the FMA will continue to have an active role in the supervision of these credit institutes. “The SSM is a supervisory system within which the ECB and national supervisors will work in close cooperation. Around 85% of supervisory tasks will be carried out by national supervisors. The ECB will, however, maintain the lead and decisions will be taken by the Supervisory Board of the SSM, in which body the FMA is represented with a seat and a vote”, commented FMA Executive Board Member Helmut Ettl, who will represent Austria in the SSM Supervisory Board as a member with voting rights.
“The FMA plays an important role in the Single Supervisory Mechanism. It is responsible for approximately 550 regionally focussed banks, accounting for 40 per cent of Austria’s banking assets. Furthermore, other agendas such as the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, dealing with unauthorised banking activities and the enforcement of special legislation with regard to banking supervision – such as the Building Society Act or the Mortgage Bonds Act – remain solely the responsibility of the FMA,” remarked FMA Executive Board Member Klaus Kumpfmüller.
Journalists may address further enquiries to:
Klaus Grubelnik (FMA Media Spokesperson)
+43/(0)1/24959-6006
+43/(0)676/882 49 516