Financial Market Authority
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| State level | Federation | ||
| Position of the authority | Authority without instructions | ||
| legal form | Public institution | ||
| At sight | Federal Ministry of Finance (examination), Federal Government (appointment) | ||
| founding | 1.1. 2002 (FMABG) | ||
| Headquarters | Vienna 9 , Otto-Wagner-Platz 5 | ||
| Authority management | Helmut Ettl , Eduard Müller (member of the board of directors), Alfred Lejsek (supervisory board chairman) | ||
| Website | www.fma.gv.at | ||
The Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) is the independent, independent and integrated supervisory authority for the Austrian financial market and has been set up as an institution under public law . It is responsible for the supervision of credit institutions , payment institutions , insurance companies , pension funds , retirement funds, mutual funds , licensed securities services , credit rating agencies and securities exchanges , as well as capital market brochures. On January 1, 2015, the FMA also assumed the role of national resolution authority.
founding
On April 1, 2002, the FMA commenced operations as an independent authority within the framework of the Financial Market Authority Act (FMABG) . This law was passed in the summer of 2001 after long political discussions about the establishment of an integrated financial supervision. The FMA was established as an institution under public law with its own legal personality, and it was entrusted with the supervision of banks, insurance companies, pension funds and the entire securities sector.
organization
The FMA is an authority that is not subject to instructions, i.e. it is not bound by any political instructions in the exercise of its office. However, the Federal Ministry of Finance has the right to prescribe certain test procedures to the FMA , as well as the right to consent to individual FMA implementing ordinances .
The FMA consists of a two-person executive board , which is directly flanked by the two staff departments Internal Audit and Procedure . Furthermore, the authority is divided into five areas: banking supervision , insurance and pension fund supervision , securities supervision , integrated supervision and services . The FMA has a supervisory board consisting of six members as well as the financial market stability committee , the latter not being an organ of the FMA . Some of these posts are appointed directly by the Council of Ministers (under the administration of the Council of Ministers Service at the Federal Chancellery ).
Both the executive board and the supervisory board are nominated by the Federal Minister of Finance and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB). In addition to the six members of the Supervisory Board, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce proposes two other people as co-opted members without voting rights.
tasks
The tasks of the FMA with regard to the supervision of the Austrian financial market are divided into five main areas:
- Banking supervision (in cooperation with the Oesterreichische Nationalbank )
- Insurance supervision
- Pension fund supervision
- Securities supervision
- Bank settlement
Banking supervision
The tasks of the Banking Supervision Department include, in particular, the implementation of concession, approval and notification procedures, the implementation of official supervisory procedures, the official supervision of internal bank models, the commissioning of the OeNB to carry out on-site inspections, and the official monitoring of deficiencies by credit institutions , the banking supervision-specific legal interpretation, the evaluation and recording of qualitative information, the evaluation of analysis results with regard to official steps as well as the participation in the banking supervisory legislation, furthermore the submission of international committees within the scope of supervisory matters concerning branches and representative offices of foreign credit institutions as well as the cross-border supervision as part of the concept of consolidating supervision.
As the term banking supervision already suggests, it is basically credit institutions that are the focus of supervisory activities. Since the Payment Services Act (ZaDiG) came into force , however, the licensing and ongoing monitoring of payment institutions have also been the responsibility of the banking supervisory department. This is obvious in so far as the supervisory requirements for payment institutions, albeit somewhat less, are closely modeled on those of credit institutions.
Insurance and pension fund supervision
The area of insurance supervision and pension fund supervision includes in particular the ongoing monitoring of the entire business operations of insurance companies and pension funds including on-site inspections, proposals for the insurance supervision-specific and pension fund supervision-specific legal developments, the submission of international committees within the scope of the area as well as concession matters and legal supervision.
Securities supervision
The area of securities supervision includes in particular the monitoring of the reporting obligations of credit institutions with regard to reporting instruments, market and stock exchange supervision , issuer supervision , licensing and ongoing supervision of investment service companies (WPDLU) and investment groups , as well as investigations in the securities area and the corresponding cooperation with the Federal Criminal Police Office , the state police directorates , the public prosecutor's office , the courts and other authorities, as well as the supervision of the observance of the rules of conduct and compliance regulations , as well as proposals for securities supervision- specific legal developments and the appointment of international committees within the scope of the area.
Bank settlement
The bank resolution area, which was newly created in 2015, has on the one hand to develop and create preventive resolution plans for banks, and on the other hand to implement these in the event of resolution using the far-reaching instruments available to it. If the resolution goals are not achieved, the use of resolution instruments is not intended and a bankruptcy petition must be filed instead. The guiding principle in the use of resolution tools is that no creditor may suffer a greater loss than in the event of insolvency.
history
The origin of the FMA goes back to the year 1880. At that time, under Emperor Franz Joseph, due to the steadily growing distrust of the booming insurance industry in the Ministry of the Interior, the Assecuranz-Bureau was set up to oversee insurance .
The tasks were defined in the founding acts as follows:
“The state supervision of insurance companies has to extend in general to the exact observation of the legal and statutory provisions, as well as to those circumstances, by which the ability to fulfill the future obligations of the institution at any time is required. The state supervisory authority must therefore, in particular, monitor the correct calculation of the premium reserve, the correct investment of capital, as well as the correct, complete and as clear as possible representation of all financial and financial relationships in the financial statements and accountability reports. "
Insurance regulations have become stricter over the years, but it was not until 1978 that the Federal Act on the Operation and Supervision of Contract Insurance reorganized supervision in a way that still applies in principle today.
By joining the EEA and later the EU , the entire insurance industry was liberalized. Accordingly, the supervision was also adjusted in line with the currently existing independent financial market supervisory authority.
Board
Helmut Ettl has been a board member of the FMA since 2008 , and Klaus Kumpfmüller became a board member in 2013 . After Kumpfmüller was appointed by the supervisory board as the successor to Andreas Mitterlehner, who died in November 2019, as chairman of the board of HYPO Oberösterreich , it was announced that he would be succeeded by Eduard Müller on an interim basis as board member of the FMA. In May 2020, Müller's appointment as a member of the FMA's board was decided by the Council of Ministers .
Legal basis
| Basic data | |
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| Title: | Financial Market Authority Act |
| Long title: | Federal law on the establishment and organization of the financial market supervisory authority |
| Abbreviation: | FMABG |
| Type: | Federal law |
| Scope: | Republic of Austria |
| Reference: | BGBl. I No. 97/2001 |
| Last change: | Federal Law Gazette I No. 112/2018 |
| Legal text: | ris.bka |
| Please note the note on the applicable legal version ! | |
A large number of Austrian laws serve as the legal basis. The FMA is a public institution with legal personality for the implementation of banking supervision , the insurance supervision , the Pension Companies and the Securities and Exchange set (Constitutional provision: § 1 1 Financial Market Authority Act - FMABG.). It implements the supervisory laws listed in Section 2 Paragraphs 1 to 4 FMABG (including BWG, InvFG, ImmoInvFG, ZaDIG, VAG, PKG, WAG 2007, BörseG, KMG and FKG), is responsible for the entire federal territory and carries out its office not bound by any instructions.
Regulations
Ordinances are constitutionally provided general administrative acts that define generally binding requirements. As an administrative authority, the FMA is empowered to issue ordinances on the basis of the laws falling under its responsibility. FMA ordinances are published in the Federal Law Gazette.
Circular
By means of circulars, the FMA publishes its legal view on regulatory issues, derived from the law or ordinance, in order to inform the public about certain requirements.
Minimum standards
By means of minimum standards, the FMA publishes requirements derived from market standards as well as additional recommendations on questions relevant to supervision. Minimum standards serve to inform the public about requirements, compliance with which, in the opinion of the FMA, corresponds to current or new market standards.
Standard compliance codes
Standard compliance codes are codified trade practices that are issued by economic interest groups with the involvement of the FMA . They are minimum standards accepted by all members of an industry to promote market trust.
Consumer information, investor and creditor protection
The FMA is not a consumer protection organization in the classic sense that can assist complainants in enforcing any claims for damages or claims against a supervised company. As a supervisor, it must maintain objectivity towards all supervised persons and their customers and must never take sides. Consumers who have suffered damage must in principle bring any claims for damages to civil courts .
Information and complaints from consumers, investors or creditors against market participants are, however, an important source of knowledge for supervisory activities. The FMA investigates every customer complaint and checks whether there are any systemic errors. The FMA's complaint management and consumer hotline therefore provide information about the legal options and ensure that all information is checked with regard to relevant undesirable developments or possible violations of supervisory standards. As a complainant in an administrative procedure belongs to no party position, he must the FMA give because of their obligation to secrecy no information on the progress and outcome of the proceedings. However, if the complainant also sues under civil law, the court can very well inspect the files by way of administrative assistance .
Complaints about supervised companies can be submitted using a complaint form on the FMA website . Since January 2014 it has also been possible to anonymously report grievances or violations of supervisory law in a company that is subject to FMA supervision via a whistleblower system.
International cooperation
The FMA is a member of various international bodies, such as: International Association of Insurance Supervisors ( IAIS ), International Organization of Securities Regulatory Authorities ( IOSCO ) and Committee of European Securities Regulatory Authorities ( CESR ).
On January 1, 2011, the three existing committees of the supervisory authorities ( CEBS , CEIOPS and CESR ) were replaced by European supervisory authorities ( EBA , EIOPA and ESMA ), which have received additional competencies and continue their activities. At the same time, a European Systemic Risk Board ( ESRB ) was set up.
On November 4, 2014, the European Central Bank took over direct and indirect supervision for all banks in the euro area. The ECB has to exercise its supervisory responsibility in accordance with the requirements of the European legislator with the national banking supervisory authorities in the so-called Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) . This ensures that the banks in the participating countries will in future be supervised according to uniform criteria and methods, while maintaining the principle of proportionality. As a representative of Austria, FMA board member Helmut Ettl was appointed as a voting member of the SSM supervisory board. The SSM supervisory body currently consists of 24 members and is the decisive body in the new European banking supervisory architecture, which is organized on a decentralized basis under the umbrella of the ECB and relies heavily on the national supervisory institutions in its practical supervisory activities. The SSM supervisory body is responsible for planning and executing the ECB's supervisory tasks, organizing all preparatory work and preparing and taking all supervisory decisions.
For banks that are subject to direct supervision by the ECB in the “Single European Supervisory Mechanism ” (SSM) , a separate resolution authority has been created at European level (“Single Resolution Mechanism - SRM”). The SRM began operating in full on January 1, 2016. The aim is to process banks that have got into distress within the European Monetary Union in an orderly manner. As the national resolution authority for Austria, the FMA is part of the SRM , but started its full activities in this area on January 1, 2015. The central European resolution authority, the Single Resolution Board (SRB) based in Brussels, was also founded on January 1, 2015, but only had the competence to develop resolution concepts and plans in the year of establishment. The FMA is represented by its executive board Klaus Kumpfmüller with a seat and vote in the decision-making body of the SRB, the supervisory body. On January 1, 2016, the SRM / SRB was also given responsibility for the implementation of resolution and restructuring measures for the almost 150 cross-border banks and banking groups from the participating member states.
See also
Web links
- Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA)
- Single Resolution Board (SRB)
- European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)
- European Banking Authority (EBA)
- European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ex-finance minister is to become the FMA board. In: Kurier.at . January 24, 2020, accessed January 24, 2020 .
- ↑ Kamil Kowalcze: Ex-Finance Minister becomes FMA Board of Directors. In: The press . January 23, 2020, accessed January 24, 2020 .
- ↑ Hanna Kordik: Ex-Finance Minister changes to the FMA. In: The press . January 28, 2020, accessed January 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Eduard Müller confirmed as the new FMA board member. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . May 20, 2020, accessed May 21, 2020 .
- ↑ Online complaint form ( Memento of the original from July 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Whistleblower whistleblower system
