Annual Report 2023
Foreword by the President
Dear readers,
We are living in demanding times, up against numerous economic and socio-political challenges, including globalization, digital transformation, climate change and demographic change. Finding solutions that reflect our values and support our goals will require the input of many. It is up us to intensify the dialogue among policymakers, businesses, scientists and civil society.
The ECB, for its part, has been fostering price stability and supporting the euro area economy for the past 25 years, even as we went through multiple crises in and after 2008: a substantial financial crisis, a sovereign debt crisis and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. Depending on the development of the crises, the ECB used a range of monetary policy tools. Ultimately, the global economic fallout from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a broad increase in prices. While the ECB did manage to dampen inflation by raising key interest rates, inflation rates continue to exceed the agreed inflation target of 2%.
In Austria, the euro continues to have high acceptance rates. During the 25 years since its introduction, the euro has been asserting itself as a global currency given the strength of the euro area economies. Above all, export-oriented countries like Austria have been benefiting from the advantages that come with having a common European currency.
With a view to strengthening financial literacy in Austria and supporting informed investment decisions, the OeNB developed a transparency platform for savings account interest rates in 2023. This new tool enables savers to compare the interest rate conditions for different types of savings and to evaluate the market performance of saving instruments and conditions offered by individual banks.
Microprudential and macroprudential supervisors continued to focus on loans to finance real estate transactions. The commercial real estate market has been suffering from rising interest rates, increasing building costs, shrinking real estate prices and the generally weak economic conditions. The OeNB continues to monitor these developments closely to be able to estimate the underlying risks to price stability and the financial system and to take adequate action if required.
The OeNB also continued to support independent and high-quality empirical economic research. After all, such research generates crucial input for public policymaking and serves to keep the public informed about economic policy measures. This is why we stand ready to use OeNB Anniversary Fund assets to support independent economic research in Austria. The OeNB seeks to ensure a level playing field for basic research projects on topics that are relevant for monetary policymaking. The OeNB’s motivation is to strengthen the competitiveness of research made in Austria and also contribute to raising the attractiveness of economic research in Austria.
In closing, let me express my gratitude to all General Council and Governing Board members, and to the entire staff working at the OeNB and at the OeNB’s subsidiaries for their excellent cooperation in 2023.
Vienna, March 2024
Harald Mahrer, President
Foreword by the Governor
Dear reader,
2023 was another year marked by geopolitical conflicts and wars that created major political and economic challenges. And geopolitics will be a concern also in 2024, given relentless armed conflicts and elections coming up in several major economies.
In terms of economic growth, 2023 was a weak year: annual GDP in the euro area increased by just 0.6% from 2022. The outlook for 2024 is also within this range (+0.8% growth), given continued tight financing conditions and lackluster export growth. The outlook for 2025 and 2026 is brighter, though. Annual inflation dropped to 5.4% in 2023, given easing cost pressures and the impact of monetary policy measures. In 2024, inflation is expected to drop further, to 2.7%. Thereafter, inflation is projected to converge to the Eurosystem’s target value for inflation of 2%.
Owing to weak momentum from consumption and investment, Austria’s economic output shrank considerably in the second and third quarters of 2023. In 2023 as a whole, economic output dropped by 0.7%. On the back of strengthening consumer demand, we expect to see a turnaround starting in early 2024, i.e. a return to positive growth rates. Hence, we project 0.6% growth for 2024. Domestic HICP inflation reached 7.7% in 2023, thus exceeding euro area inflation. However, for 2024, we project the HICP rate to drop to 4.0%, and to even lower rates in the following years.
Thus, combating inflation continued to be the key challenge for monetary policymakers in the euro area and in Austria in 2023. All in all, the Governing Council of the ECB raised the key interest rates for the euro area six times in 2023 from 2% to 4%. Furthermore, the Eurosystem started to decrease at a measured pace the monetary policy portfolios acquired under asset purchase programs and banks started to repay longer-term refinancing operations, both of which will cause central bank balance sheets to shrink over time.
For the Eurosystem, rising interest rates for the deposit facility imply a higher interest expense for commercial banks’ deposits with the central bank. Besides, this expense far exceeds the small stream of income from the large amount of securities with low or even negative yields that the Eurosystem central banks had acquired when implementing nonstandard monetary policy measures. Hence, like many other Eurosystem central banks, the OeNB reports a loss from monetary policy operations for 2023.
Ultimately, these losses do not detract from the effectiveness of the euro area monetary policy, however. Any profit or loss recorded by Eurosystem central banks, including the OeNB and the ECB, is a corollary to the joint mandate of safeguarding price stability in the euro area in the medium run.
Yet, rather than zooming in on temporary losses arising from monetary policy, let us zoom out to the bigger picture, including the economic benefits we have been able to reap from the many years of accommodative monetary policy – above all the stabilization of the euro area economy and the impact on the general government budget. The interest expense saved by the Austrian government due to the Eurosystem’s nonstandard monetary policy totals some EUR 34.7 billion since 2012.
To conclude, let me express my heartfelt gratitude to the President and Vice President, the General Council, my fellow Governing Board members as well as all our staff members for their excellent cooperation and outstanding commitment in what has been a challenging year.
Vienna, March 2024
Robert Holzmann, Governor
The OeNB at a glance
What we do
“Security through stability. The euro – our currency.” This is the OeNB’s vision, as outlined in our mission statement . As Austria’s independent central bank, we are part of the Eurosystem and part of the international network of policy organizations. This is what our core tasks are related to, which we seek to communicate extensively to the general public:
With a view to fulfilling our tasks and delivering on our mandate, we have defined the following six strategic priorities for the period until 2025:
OeNB & Eurosystem/IMF; monetary policy and the economy
- The OeNB strives for thematic leadership in select areas within the Eurosystem.
- The OeNB handles IMF-related matters concerning Austria.
- The OeNB is Austria’s knowledge and resource hub for monetary policy and theory, and our staff research supports the OeNB’s stance in the decision-making process of the Governing Council of the ECB.
- The OeNB serves as a knowledge and resource hub for analyzing economic and financial policy challenges.
- The OeNB is the think tank on economic growth in Austria, monitoring in particular the alignment between microeconomic and macroeconomic patterns.
- The OeNB keeps serving Austria with cash in the digital age.
Financial stability and strategy
- The OeNB contributes to enhancing transparency through high-quality financial statistics, thus building trust.
- The OeNB helps safeguard the stability of the Austrian banking and financial system.
- The OeNB seeks to ensure effective rules and technology-neutral approaches to banking regulation in the EU’s banking union, advocating a narrower set of simplified rules for smaller banks.
- The OeNB contributes to reinforcing the stability of the Austrian capital market.
- The OeNB fulfills its monetary policy mandate and helps maintain the stability of the banking and financial system, implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.
Financial innovation
- The OeNB plays a key role in developing and regulating financial innovations.
- The OeNB is crucial for making Austria’s financial system more resilient to cyberattacks.
- The OeNB works intensively with external partners to enhance financial innovation.
Financial education
- The OeNB contributes to financial education and hence to the financial health of the general public in Austria.
- The OeNB seeks to set international standards by promoting financial literacy in Austria.
- The OeNB is committed to leading the way in monitoring financial literacy and the effectiveness of related measures.
- The OeNB offers independent expertise with its financial education outreach programs for Austria.
Business organization, recruiting and digital tech
- The OeNB strives to be a forward-looking organization.
- The OeNB promotes ESG, i.e. sustainable as well as ethical behavior and good corporate governance.
- The OeNB seeks to be an innovative employer.
- The OeNB embraces digital tech and automation.
Communications
- The OeNB is a household name for the majority of Austrians.
- The OeNB is perceived as an independent and modern organization.
- The OeNB is associated with thematic leadership regarding a broad range of issues, including price stability, financial stability, economic policy, financial statistics, financial education, money and payments.
- The OeNB has earned the trust of the general public, financial market participants and other stakeholders, and is also considered to be a trusted employer.
- Our employees are proud to work for the central bank.
- Our communication across business areas is effective and efficient.
Inflation remained a major challenge for monetary policy
How much do key interest rates need to increase for inflation to be under control?
As in the previous year, the sharp rise in consumer prices was the key monetary policy concern in 2023. In 2022, the average inflation rate for the euro area had peaked at 8.4%. 1 In 2023, inflation was going down: Monthly inflation rates as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) fell from 8.6% in January to 2.9% in December.
Overall, inflation averaged 5.4% in 2023, just as forecast in the Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections released in December 2023. In other words, inflation remained well above the 2% price stability target.
Inflation in Austria well above euro area inflation in 2023
In Austria, HICP inflation peaked at 11.6% in January 2023. Thereafter, it gradually declined to 5.7% in December.
In 2022, inflation had been mainly driven by energy and other import prices. By the end of 2022, corporate profits were starting to fuel inflation as well. In due course, wages and salaries emerged as additional price drivers. Since the second quarter of 2023, about half of the uptick in prices in Austria has been attributable to wage and salary costs (see the OeNB’s December 2023 economic outlook for Austria ; available in German only).
Furthermore, nonenergy services and industrial goods have been increasingly affecting inflation; in contrast, energy and food prices were on the decline in 2023 (chart 1). This trend is expected to continue in 2024. In our 2024 December forecast, we expect inflation to drop from an annual average of 7.7% in 2023 to 4.0% in 2024.
Core inflation, i.e. headline inflation excluding energy and food, has exceeded headline HICP inflation since June 2023, for the following reasons: Energy prices have been falling, whereas the contribution of services prices to inflation has increased. This trend is also likely to continue in 2024, when we expect core inflation to average 4.5%.
Austria’s HICP inflation was below that of the euro area up to mid-2022; afterwards, the trend reversed. There are three reasons for this:
1. Energy price cuts were passed through to Austrian households with a time lag.
2. As a result of higher wage growth, services prices in Austria have been rising more strongly – and they come with comparatively higher weights in the Austrian basket of goods.
3. The fiscal measures adopted by the Austrian government tended to be based on transfer payments rather than direct price interventions.
Looking ahead, we expect the inflation differential between Austria and the euro area to narrow to just over 1 percentage point in 2024, and to narrow further to less than 1 percentage point in 2025.
The challenge for monetary policymakers in 2023 was to gauge how much key interest rates would need to be raised for inflation to be brought under control. Higher key interest rates affect inflation via the real economy and thus with a time lag. In other words, the mechanism inherent in the process of monetary policy transmission implies the following: To curb high inflation rates, monetary policymakers have to dampen the real economy, and they do so by raising key policy rates. Higher interest rates, among other things, make loans for consumers and businesses more expensive, reducing their propensity to spend and thus dampening consumption and investment. This, in turn, weakens economic activity, as a result of which companies tend to refrain from increasing prices – causing inflation to fall.
Governor Robert Holzmann at the Conference on European Economic Integration (CEEI)
In other words, monetary policymakers need to reduce economic growth sufficiently to bring inflation down to the desired 2%. At the same time, inflation should not fall below 2%. This is why monetary policy seeks to decelerate the economy at a measured pace.
The Governing Council of the ECB – in which the OeNB is currently represented by Governor Holzmann – has a number of tools that support landing at the target of 2%, including above all inflation forecasting. Inflation forecasting helps the Governing Council to assess whether and when the 2% target is within reach with the adopted or intended measures.
As an added difficulty, monetary policy decisions are subject to uncertainty: The impact of policy rate changes may vary. It may be stronger or weaker than assumed in the forecast models. In addition, new shocks may trigger disruptions that cause economic output and/or inflation to deviate from the projected paths. This is why the Governing Council regularly reviews whether inflation is indeed moving toward 2% or whether further action may be required for inflation to converge to the target.
Austria’s economy dipped in recession in 2023
Economic output in Austria declined slightly in the second half of 2022, on account of three factors: (1) pent-up demand effects after the COVID-19 pandemic were running out, (2) energy prices were going up and (3) the international environment was weak.
In the second and third quarters of 2023, economic output contracted surprisingly strongly and Austria slipped deeper into recession. The main drivers were sharp drops in private consumption and investment. Exports grew modestly, while imports declined.
In late 2023, the dampening factors weakened and household incomes were increasingly supported by higher wage agreements. The decline in economic output therefore slowed in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Looking ahead, we expect quarterly GDP growth rates to be positive in early 2024 (see the OeNB’s December 2023 economic outlook for Austria ; available in German only). The recovery is mainly driven by strengthening consumer demand, while investment is likely to contract further in 2024. Ultimately, the Austrian economy is expected to grow moderately by around ½% in 2024, despite a weak start.
Governor Robert Holzmann, Birgit Niessner (Director of Economic Analysis and Research) and
Gerhard Fenz (Head of Business Cycle Analysis) at a press conference presenting the OeNB’s
economic outlook for Austria for the period from 2023 to 2025
Developments in Austria broadly mirrored developments in the euro area in 2022 and early 2023. However, unlike domestic output, euro area-wide output was not declining from the second quarter of 2023 onward. On the supply side, the services sector supported economic activity in the euro area, while both industry and services activity contracted in Austria. The areas hit hardest in the services sector include restaurants, commerce and other market services. Growth rates in Austria and the euro area are expected to converge to similar levels in the coming years.
Key interest rates in the euro area raised to 4% in 2023
On the basis of the above-mentioned considerations and analyses, the key policy rates were raised in six steps in 2023, from 2% to 4%. Specifically, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations in the euro area stood at 4.50% at the end of 2023, the interest rate on the marginal lending facility stood at 4.75% and the interest rate on the deposit facility stood at 4.00%.
In 2023, as in previous years, the Eurosystem was working with large amounts of excess liquidity. Money market rates therefore hovered at the lower end of the corridor formed by the three key interest rates listed above. The three-month EURIBOR, for instance, which is considered to be a particularly important reference rate for the European economy, was just under 4% in the last few weeks of 2023.
In the course of 2023, the Governing Council of the ECB adjusted the key interest rates six times, between February and September 2023. Based on the status quo, the Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections released in December 2023 point to inflation rates of 2.1% in 2025 and 1.9% in 2026. This would imply that the HICP inflation rate is moving toward the 2% target if the ECB maintains the 4% interest rate level for a sufficiently long period of time. By the end of 2023, financial markets, at any rate, were not pricing in any further rates hikes.
Need to reduce central bank balance sheets
As is well known, the euro area has experienced various crises in recent years, including the great financial crisis (2008–2009), a sovereign debt crisis (2011–2013) and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, key policy rates were at risk of reaching their effective lower bound, beyond which further interest rate cuts would no longer be possible. In order to nonetheless mitigate the crisis situation, monetary policymakers in the euro area therefore adopted nonstandard tools alongside cuts in key interest rates: These included extensive monetary policy asset purchase programs as well as the provision of longer-term liquidity to commercial banks at favorable conditions.
On the OeNB’s balance sheet, nonstandard measures have in fact accounted for the bulk of balances outstanding from monetary policy operations since 2008 (chart 2). We see a gradual expansion of total assets, the pace of which intensified after 2014. Total assets peaked at close to EUR 290 billion in fall 2022.
Thus, to get the high inflation rates under control in 2023, it took more than policy rate hikes alone; the size of the Eurosystem’s balance sheet, and thus the size of the OeNB’s assets, needed to be reduced as well. This is because large central bank holdings of securities work to dampen the level of medium- to long-term interest rates. The interest rate level will indeed move upward as key interest rates rise and as financial markets expect further interest rate hikes to come. However, the increase is being held in check as the supply of securities is being artificially reduced by the large holdings of central banks. This leads to higher prices for these securities – and thus to lower yields.
Hence, a relatively rapid reduction in central bank balance sheets would be called for. At the same time, reducing the amount of securities held for monetary policy purposes too quickly also harbors risks. If a central bank were to sell large amounts of securities in a short period of time, it would “flood” the market with investment opportunities that may not meet enough demand from the part of investors. This could lead to a fall in the prices of these securities, leading to a disorderly increase in yields at medium- to long-term interest rates.
Claudia Kwapil (Senior Principal in the OeNB’s Monetary Policy Section) at the 50th OeNB Economics Conference and 60th SUERF Anniversary Conference
Other central banks, such as the Bank of England or the US Federal Reserve, have therefore also been cautious in reducing their securities portfolios. The euro area is faced with the additional risk that disorderly interest rate increases could affect only individual countries, leading to a stronger reduction in economic activity and inflation in these countries than in others. This would jeopardize the singleness of monetary policy. As with the optimal choice of policy rates, it is therefore important to strike the right balance in reducing central bank balance sheets.
Like in the Eurosystem as a whole, the OeNB’s monetary policy securities portfolios are dominated by the two most prominent programs for purchasing assets, the Asset Purchase Programme (APP) and the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP).
The measured reduction in the Eurosystem’s APP portfolio begun in 2023 and will continue in 2024. In 2023, the OeNB’s portfolio of assets decreased by EUR 3.8 billion, to EUR 71.6 billion. Over time, net asset purchases had caused the APP portfolio to expand until June 2022. Until February 2023, maturing securities were fully reinvested, so that the APP portfolio remained constant until then. Between March and June 2023, maturing securities were no longer replaced in full, causing the portfolio to shrink somewhat. As of July 2023, maturing securities under the APP have no longer been replaced – the portfolio has been declining since then.
Meanwhile, the OeNB’s PEPP portfolio continues to be worth EUR 37.3 billion. Fully in line with Eurosystem policies, we continued to invest in full maturing amounts outstanding from securities also in 2023. We will continue to do so in the first half of 2024. Thereafter, the PEPP portfolio should start to shrink at a measured pace in the second half of the year. Most probably, we will stop reinvesting maturing PEPP securities by the end of 2024, as agreed by the Governing Council of the ECB on December 14, 2023.
The decline in the OeNB’s balance sheet in 2023 was mainly driven by the reduction in monetary policy refinancing operations (chart 2): The volume of targeted longer-term refinancing operations III (TLTROs III) shrank by a total of EUR 34.6 billion, for the following reason: Some TLTROs III matured after three years and had to be repaid by the borrowing banks. In addition, banks voluntarily repaid some TLTRO III balances early. At the end of 2023, the outstanding amount of TLTROs III in the OeNB’s balance sheet totaled EUR 15.1 billion. These will be due in 2024.
A safety net in the event of rising key interest rates
Key interest rates increased rapidly and strongly in 2022 and 2023 – by 4.5 percentage points within 15 months. This entails certain risks, especially after a long period of negative interest rates: In particular, there is a risk that medium- to long-term interest rates may react differently across euro area countries, which could cause funding conditions to tighten more in some countries than in others. Put differently: The impact of the single monetary policy on economic activity and thus on inflation would vary across countries. To prevent this from happening, the Eurosystem has put in place a two-tier safety net:
First, PEPP reinvestments can be handled flexibly by the Governing Council of the ECB. If, for instance, risk premia were to increase in one country for reasons still attributable to the pandemic, some of the principal payments from maturing PEPP securities can be reallocated within the euro area and channeled to that country. For example, funds related to securities maturing in Austria might be reinvested in another euro area country, and vice versa. This flexibility is expected to be maintained until the end of 2024 to address pandemic-related distortions in financial markets.
Second, the effectiveness of monetary transmission may also be secured with a dedicated tool, namely the Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI). This instrument serves to buy securities issued by individual countries whose financing conditions are found to deteriorate unjustifiably and in a disorderly manner. There are no ex ante limits on the purchase volumes. However, if risk premia have been driven up by country-specific fundamentals, such purchases are not an option. Risk premia increases are therefore assessed against criteria that show whether the country in question is pursuing sound and sustainable fiscal and economic policies.
Julia Wörz (Head of the OeNB’s Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe Section) at the Conference on European Economic Integration (CEEI)
The volume of TPI purchases depends on the severity of the market turmoil. The TPI tool has been available to the Governing Council since July 2022. It can be activated by the Governing Council at any time, but so far this has not been the case in either 2022 or 2023.
The aim of the two-tier safety net is to ensure a smooth transmission of the monetary policy stance across all euro area countries and to support an effective interest rate pass-through. This is a prerequisite for the Eurosystem to fulfill its price stability mandate.
Economic growth in CESEE very subdued in 2023, inflation slowed significantly
What happened beyond the euro area in 2023, especially in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE), a region of great importance to Austria? And what happened at the IMF, one of the most important policy organizations worldwide?
Real economic growth in the CESEE EU member states declined significantly in 2023, averaging only 0.7% – compared with 4.2% in 2022.
Growth was hampered in particular by weak private consumption, as high inflation led to significant real wage losses, especially in the first half of 2023.
At the same time, CESEE growth was being supported by broadly stable labor markets. Unemployment rose only slightly, preventing an even sharper decline in consumption. Growth was also supported by robust investment spending, which benefited from payments from EU funds. The external sector also contributed positively to growth.
The inflation wave observed since mid-2021 reached its peak in CESEE countries in early 2023, as it did in Austria. Since then, average inflation in the region has fallen from above 16% to 6.0% in December 2023. Initially, this was mainly due to falling energy prices. In the course of the year, lower inflation rates were reported from almost all areas of the consumption basket. This allowed central banks to put an end to their interest rate hikes or, in some cases, to start decreasing key interest rates again.
The CESEE banking sectors were very profitable in 2023, essentially on account of the high interest margins. This meant that banks charged significantly higher interest rates on loans than they paid on overnight or fixed-term deposits taken in by them. Credit growth was dampened by the tight monetary policy stance, including higher policy rates, and the slowdown in economic activity. However, this has not gone hand in hand with a rising share of nonperforming loans.
IMF: Article IV consultations, annual meetings and conclusion of the 16th quota reform
The main objective of the IMF’s work is to safeguard the stability of the international financial and monetary system. Austria’s IMF quota – the share of resources provided by member countries – is held by the OeNB, which also represents Austria on the Board of Governors of the IMF. Within the IMF, Austria is part of the Central European constituency.
The IMF conducted a staff visit to Austria from August 30 to September 5, 2023. This visit focused on how to reduce inflation, ensure stability and build resilience in uncertain times. The regular IMF Article IV consultations with Austria will take place from February 16 to March 1, 2024.
The annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group took place in Marrakesh from October 9 to 15, 2023. Austria represented its IMF constituency in the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) and issued a statement on behalf of the constituency.
The Board of Governors of the IMF adopted the proposal for the 16th general review of quotas on December 15, 2023. Accordingly, quotas for IMF members are to be increased proportionally by 50%. However, the quota increase does not follow mechanistically from this decision. For this decision to enter into force, at least 85% of IMF members will have to agree to their respective quota increase. In Austria, consent to the decision requires a new federal law to be adopted, as was the case in 2012.
With the entry into force of the quota increase, the composition of the IMF’s financial resources will therefore change, while the IMF’s current lending capacity will be maintained. Following implementation, quota resources will account for a higher share of the IMF’s resources. In turn, borrowed resources comprising the New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) will be reduced and the Bilateral Borrowing Agreements will be phased out. The aim is to replace short- and medium-term IMF borrowing by the IMF from member countries with permanent resources.
1 The highest monthly increase was measured in October 2022 (10.6%).
Monetary policy greatly affects profit and loss account
Monetary policy geared toward price stability leads to high interest expense
In the past 15 years, since 2008, the euro area was faced, first, with the great financial crisis, then with a sovereign debt crisis and finally with the COVID-19 pandemic. While each crisis had different causes, they all sparked a recession and put downward pressure on consumer prices. This is why, between 2008 and 2021, euro area monetary policymakers sought to support the economy and help bring inflation back to 2%, by cutting key interest rates and launching asset purchase programs and longer-term refinancing operations (see also the section entitled “Monetary policy and the economy”).
Inflation started to rise in 2021 and gained additional momentum in 2022 due to the consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Ultimately, inflation surged well beyond the ECB’s 2% target, prompting the ECB to raise key interest rates in rapid and unprecedented fashion.
Key interest rates are a highly responsive instrument. Other crisis instruments, such as asset purchase programs and longer-term refinancing operations (see (1) and (2) in figure 1), are much more sluggish. After all, the securities that the Eurosystem started to buy, for example, in 2015 for monetary policy purposes come with a maturity of up to 30 years. The volume-weighted maturity of the monetary policy securities portfolio is therefore currently around 7 years. By the end of 2023, the OeNB’s securities portfolios amounted to EUR 108.9 billion, and these securities will take their time maturing. On top of that, longer-term refinancing operations added another EUR 15.1 billion to the balance sheet.
The OeNB’s income situation is being driven by two factors at present: first, low income from securities held for monetary policy purposes (see (1) in figure 1); second, exceptionally high interest expenses on excess reserves (see (4) in figure 1). To a degree, these two aspects explain the loss the OeNB ran up in 2023.
Let us first take a closer look at the low income from securities: In response to the succession of crises, the Eurosystem launched asset purchase programs, creating excess liquidity. The demand for securities purchased under these programs drove up the prices of these securities, thereby lowering market interest rates. The rather high-yielding securities that the OeNB started out buying have made a significant positive contribution to the OeNB’s result in the past. And medium- to long-term interest rates declined over time, as intended, due to the securities purchases. However, most of the securities currently held by the OeNB were purchased during the long period of low or negative interest rates. What this means is that the return on securities purchased for monetary policy reasons is currently only around 0.5% on average.
This brings us to the OeNB’s interest expense on excess reserves taken in from credit institutions: The crisis tools used by Eurosystem central banks have created excess liquidity in the banking sector from 2015 onward. As reflected in central bank balance sheets, banks have been holding this excess liquidity with their central bank, using mainly the deposit facility. By the end of 2023, the deposit facility accounted for EUR 84.5 billion of the OeNB’s total liabilities. Interest payable on these deposits is calculated at the prevailing interest rate for the deposit facility – which currently stands at 4%, following the string of key interest rate increases. This translates into an annual interest expense of around EUR 3.4 billion for the OeNB, assuming that excess reserves remain unchanged.
Interest income from securities held for monetary policy purposes averaging 0.5% versus interest expense of 4% on funds deposited with the OeNB constitutes an asset liability mismatch that inevitably leads to losses. However, the primary objective of the Eurosystem, and thus of the OeNB, is not to make profits but to maintain price stability through monetary policymaking, such as the recent decisions to raise key interest rates.
Effective performance despite losses in 2023 and beyond
The negative net interest income from monetary policy is somewhat mitigated by income from the investment of reserve assets. Still, the remaining loss for the year 2023 is EUR 2.1 billion. This is recorded in the profit and loss account and will be carried forward. As a result, the OeNB will not be able to pay a dividend to the Austrian government from its annual result, same as last year.
Will it be any different next year? Owing to the long maturities of the securities in the monetary policy portfolio, the portfolio is slow to mature. Accordingly, the amount of excess reserves will decline at a slow pace. As a result, we expect the income from monetary policy operations to remain negative in 2024. It will take until 2025 and beyond for monetary policy-related expenses to fall and for the OeNB to have a chance to return to profit.
Against this backdrop, we expect the OeNB to report negative equity by the end of 2024. This means that by then the OeNB’s loss for the year (including the loss carried forward from 2023) will exceed the OeNB’s reserves and capital. It is only in the medium to long term that the losses carried forward and the resulting negative equity will be offset by future profits.
All this is without prejudice to the effectiveness of monetary policy; and the independence of central banks in the euro area, as enshrined in the EU Treaties, will not be affected by negative equity either.
Lower interest expense on minimum reserves
Minimum reserves are balances that commercial banks are required to hold with the OeNB on dedicated accounts. On average, the total balances amounted to around EUR 4.8 billion in 2023. Until 2022, the OeNB had remunerated these reserves at the rate on its main refinancing operations (MROs). During the period of the zero interest rate policy, i.e. from 2016 to 2022, the MRO rate was 0%, so that the OeNB’s respective interest payments were zero as well.
In July 2022, the ECB moved its key interest rates back into positive territory, causing central banks’ interest expense on minimum reserves to rise as well. The Governing Council of the ECB then cut minimum reserve remuneration in two steps: First, it adopted a new remuneration benchmark for minimum reserves on December 21, 2022, namely the deposit facility rate. At the time, the deposit facility rate was 2%, i.e. 0.5 percentage points lower than the MRO rate (then 2.5%). Second, as of September 20, 2023, the remuneration of minimum reserves was reduced to 0%.
Overall, monetary policy remains effective, while having become more efficient: Under the new regime, the Eurosystem can achieve its monetary policy objectives at a lower interest expense.
Executive Director Thomas Steiner talking to Bernhard Grossmann (Head of the Office of the Fiscal Advisory Council and Productivity Board)
US dollar safety net established through coordinated action by major central banks
Due to insolvency, three US banks (Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank) had to close within five days in March 2023. These events sparked fears of potential contagion and led to a global fall in bank stocks. To contain the spread of this crisis, the ECB and other major central banks (Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Federal Reserve System, Swiss National Bank) agreed on a coordinated action to strengthen US dollar liquidity provision: As of March 20, 2023, US dollar liquidity-providing operations were offered as daily (rather than weekly) refinancing operations. Austrian banks were thus able to borrow daily US dollar liquidity for seven days against collateral that they normally use in euro tender operations. These US dollar lending operations were offered at a fixed rate; banks paid around 5% in March and April 2023. As US dollar funding conditions quickly improved, this support was removed after six weeks on May 1, 2023. Since then, US dollar tender operations have been offered again on a weekly basis.
Increased focus on euro investments in reserve management
As a result of developments in the financial markets, the OeNB has refocused its investment strategy by reducing the share of foreign currencies. As the euro appreciated against a basket of currencies on a trade-weighted basis, this had a positive impact on our business result.
The investment of OeNB assets is subject to comprehensive risk management procedures and controls. Our primary investment goal is to maintain a high degree of liquidity and security to ensure the ready availability of funds for coordinated intervention in financial markets. Another key criterion guiding investment decisions is diversification (chart 3). In the mix of assets, gold accounts for around 41% of the OeNB’s reserves. We invest above all in different currencies and regions – mainly debt securities (around 51%), but also equities (around 8%). Diversification into corporate bonds and equities serves to improve the risk-return ratio. The predominant currencies are convertible currencies of countries with excellent credit ratings. The predominant bonds are bonds issued by governments, agencies and supranational institutions, as well as covered bonds. This strategy has been a cornerstone of the OeNB’s stability and continues to underpin our activities within the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).
Investment performance benefits from financial market developments
Both bond and equity prices rose significantly in 2023, following a rather unusual slump in 2022. This was due, in particular, to the combination of higher interest rates, relatively robust economic activity and good corporate results.
The increase in stock prices was particularly strong. At +24.2%, the US stock exchange index S&P 500 rose somewhat further than the euro area EURO STOXX 50 index at +19.2% (chart 4). US stocks benefited, among other things, from the strong performance of the technology sector. In the case of government bonds, the situation was reversed: European government bonds outperformed US government bonds (e.g. German bonds: +5.6%; Austrian bonds: +6.9%; US bonds: +4.1%).
In 2023, the euro appreciated against many currencies, benefiting from the ECB’s cumulative interest rate increases (+2 percentage points). For example, the US dollar depreciated by 3.0% against the euro; the Japanese yen by as much as 9.8%. The weakness of the yen is due, in particular, to the Bank of Japan’s continued accommodative monetary policy with low policy rates. The pound sterling benefited from sharp interest rate hikes by the Bank of England (+3.5 percentage points in sum) and appreciated by 2.1% against the euro.
Our reserve investments (excluding gold) achieved a performance gain of +6.0% in 2023. The market value of our gold reserves increased by 9.5%.
Beyond profit: in pursuit of sustainability in investing
At the OeNB, we have been taking sustainability criteria into account in our reserve management for many years now. Since 2011, external asset managers working for us have had to be signatories of the Principles for Responsible Investment supported by the United Nations. In addition to
the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects, these principles include responsible disclosure requirements and the promotion of active ownership policies. Furthermore, we are setting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions and ESG factors in selected asset classes.
Securities meeting the above-mentioned criteria have also come to account for a larger share of our own purchases. As in the previous year, the OeNB will publish climate-related aspects of its nonmonetary policy portfolios (see “ Climate-related financial disclosures by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank 2023 ”).
The OeNB actively contributes to financial stability
Banking sector benefits from changed interest rate environment in 2023
The profitability of the Austrian banking sector rose sharply in 2023 (chart 5). One major reason for this was the rise in interest margins as a result of higher key interest rates. In the first three quarters of 2023, banks’ period result doubled on the year to EUR 11.5 billion. Other reasons included:
- profits from operations in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE); 2
- special factors with a strong impact in 2023, such as higher interest rates on deposits with the central bank in an environment of abundant liquidity; and
- (expiring) targeted longer-term refinancing operations undertaken by the central bank with favorable conditions for banks.
Credit quality was at historically high levels as of September 2023; the ratio of nonperforming loans in the entire sector, including CESEE business, was only 2%. This would imply that the weaker economic conditions have not yet fed through to credit quality. As the share of variable rate loans in Austria is high, increases in key interest rates drive up costs for borrowers and thus also the risk of credit losses for banks in the medium term. Credit growth slowed down significantly already in 2023, throughout Europe.
Higher credit and funding risks for banks
In 2024, the OeNB expects weaker credit growth, rising funding costs given higher deposit rates and deteriorating credit quality, to weigh on profitability in the banking sector. In addition, banks are feeling the cost pressure of inflation.
In our Financial Stability Reports, for instance, we therefore advised Austrian banks in 2023 to put currently high profits to good use to strengthen their risk resilience. This includes showing restraint when it comes to the distribution of profits, with a view to further strengthening capitalization. Retained earnings did contribute to the Austrian banking sector achieving a CET1 ratio of 16.4% in the third quarter of 2023. Simply put, CET1, or the common equity tier 1 ratio, is a measure of banks’ loss-absorbing capital. While the Austrian banking sector as a whole is as well capitalized as banks in Europe on average, most of the significant Austrian banks are not as well capitalized as their European peers on average (chart 6).
OeNB banking stress test confirms resilience
Stress tests use different scenarios to generate a range of “what if” assessments, thus serving as an alert mechanism that helps identify potential adverse developments in the banking sector in good time. As in previous years, the OeNB conducted a national banking stress test also in 2023. A second stress test was conducted by the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) which published the results of their stress test for large European banks in July 2023.
The national stress test produces a big-picture view of the Austrian banking system as a whole, combining different aspects: risks relating to capital, liquidity and contagion. It is based on an ECB scenario that assumes a global recession, rising inflation and interest rates, as well as persistent geopolitical risks. The stress test yielded a system-wide decline in the CET1 ratio of 4.2 percentage points over three years to 12.2% from late 2022. In other words, the Austrian banking sector was found to be sound and resilient. However, the stress test also revealed that the initially positive impact of rising interest rates for banks diminished over time. Therefore, banks would be well advised to exercise moderation in distributing their profits, with a view to strengthening their capital base.
Proactive supervision addresses risks
In view of interest rate increases and declining liquidity, banking supervisors refocused on credit risk (including nonperforming loans and credit risk provisions), interest rate risk in the banking book and banks’ liquidity situation. The OeNB thoroughly analyzed the impact of interest rate increases on banks’ portfolios, taking supervisory action as required. The analyses found Austrian banks to have solid liquidity conditions, even following the repayment of outstanding targeted longer-term refinancing operations. The same topics were also central to on-site inspections.
Austrian banks remained unaffected by the banking turmoil in the United States and Switzerland. First, this is attributable to proactive microprudential and macroprudential supervisory action. Microprudential supervision refers to the ongoing supervision of individual banks, essentially with a view to monitoring banks’ compliance with qualitative and quantitative criteria. Macroprudential supervision, i.e. the supervision of the financial system as a whole, aims to ensure a stable financial system and sustainable economic growth. After all, one of the lessons learned from the financial crisis of 2008–2009 is that supervision geared to the stability of individual banks alone does not provide sufficient guarantees for a stable financial system.
Second, Austrian banks’ resilience is due to their business model, which is primarily aimed at the largely standardized retail business, such as lending and deposit-taking. In addition, a sound level of liquidity and stricter liquidity regulation than in the United States has helped domestic banks build resilience to crises. This has allowed banks to reliably fulfill their intermediation role, i.e. the provision of credit and other financial services to the economy.
The Austrian banking sector remains one of the most stable in the world. This is also reflected in the latest Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment carried out by S&P Global Ratings. International institutions such as the IMF also consider the sector to be stable.
Capital buffers ensure a resilient banking system
2023 saw a gradual increase in capital buffer requirements, as announced last year, following the reassessment of the systemic risk buffer in 2022. As implied by its name, the systemic risk buffer serves to cover the systemic risks that may affect individual banks. Banks are required to hold higher capital buffers if they are systemically important for the Austrian banking market or are particularly exposed to systemic risk. In 2023, the OeNB reviewed the capital buffer for systemically important institutions. The seven banks identified so far as systemically important were confirmed, while another bank was added at the solo level. The associated buffers remained unchanged. The next evaluation of both the capital and the systemic risk buffers is planned for 2024.
The countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) was retained at 0% in 2023. This buffer is intended, in particular, to counteract risks stemming from excessive credit growth. The relevant indicator, the credit-to-GDP gap, was negative up to the second quarter of 2023 and thus below the critical threshold of 2 percentage points.
Vice Governor Gottfried Haber at the press conference marking the publication of the 46th edition
of the Financial Stability Report
Sustainable real estate lending is essential
Since borrower-based measures were introduced with a new regulation in August 2022, with a view to making residential real estate financing more sustainable, lending standards have indeed improved. In the absence of the new regulation, systemic risks would have increased further.
The new regulation was found to be necessary, appropriate and proportionate at the time of its adoption and beyond in a decision issued by Austria’s constitutional court on December 13, 2023. In arguing its case, the court specifically referred to the “sound and robust” evidence submitted, including (1) the OeNB’s opinion of March 2022, (2) the OeNB’s opinion of October 2023 on the court procedures and (3) the recommendations made by the Austrian Financial Market Stability Board (FMSB) and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB). The OeNB had argued with the changed framework conditions given higher interest rates and lower real estate prices, and moreover with the lower level of new lending and lower real disposable income growth.
Creating more unsustainable debt to address declining housing affordability given high prices in Austria is neither in the interests of financial stability nor of borrowers. In this context, the new regulation aims at ensuring sustainable lending and contributes to retaining high credit quality in the long run. The regulation is therefore an important structural factor in resilience assessments of the banking sector conducted, e.g., by credit rating agencies. As such, it guarantees favorable funding conditions for banks and thus for the economy.
At the same time, the regulation ensures sufficient flexibility for new lending by providing a comparatively large exemption quota of 20% of loans granted. In the first half of 2023, a large part of this quota remained unused at more than 300 banks (i.e., some EUR 770 million).
Variable rate loans constitute a challenge in Austria
Variable rate loans play an important role in financing in Austria. Even with very low long-term interest rates, like from mid-2015 to mid-2022, variable rate loans accounted for 45% on average of newly originated housing loans. By end-2023, the share of variable rate loans had grown to more than 50%.
Variable rate loans come with interest rate risk for borrowers. In a recessionary environment with falling real incomes, this creates additional burdens, as was the case in 2023. In 2023, the OeNB therefore stepped up its public communication on the riskiness of such funding operations and increased its monitoring activities. Recalling guideline recommendations made in 2022, the FMSB, too, underlined the particular riskiness of variable rate loans in 2023.
Markus Schwaiger (Director of the Department for Financial Stability and the Supervision of Less Significant Institutions) at a workshop with experts from the Austrian banking community, FMA and OeNB
Supervisory focus on rising risks in commercial real estate lending
Microprudential and macroprudential supervisors continued to keep a close tab on loans taken out to finance commercial real estate. The commercial real estate market has been suffering from rising interest rates, increasing building costs, shrinking real estate prices and the generally weak economic conditions. For example, there has been an increase in associated write-downs and credit losses in the banking sector. We have been analyzing these developments, also at the level of individual banks.
It is our responsibility to monitor developments in a timely and close manner in order to assess risks to banks and financial stability and to take supervisory measures as required. If the risks from commercial real estate loans increase, the “automatic stabilizers” that have been put in place will provide additional risk buffers in the form of higher risk weights. Automatic stabilizers require banks to set aside more capital for credit risk in times of higher credit defaults.
Given the rising pressure on the commercial real estate sector, the OeNB has advised the affected banks to keep improving their capitalization while the profit situation is good. In addition, banks have been advised to make forward-looking provisions for commercial real estate loans in combination with conservative collateral valuations.
Focus on cyber risk and environmental, social and governance risks
In addition to “classic” banking risks such as credit, market and liquidity risk, we also need to address newly emerging risks. After all, business models are subject to change, as are regulatory, technological and geopolitical framework conditions. In recent years, we have been paying increased attention to environmental, social and governance risks, i.e. ESG risks. In addition, monitoring IT and cyber risks has also been rising in importance. During on-site inspections in 2023, the OeNB therefore stepped up its assessment of the resilience of major Austrian credit institutions to IT and cyber risks.
Furthermore, the increased supervisory focus on IT and cyber risks is also due to the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which took effect in 2023 and is binding from January 17, 2025. The outsourcing of IT systems and banks’ resilience to cyberattacks was made a supervisory priority for the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) by the ECB already in 2022. In addition to targeted reviews, SSM-supervised significant institutions will be stress-tested for cyber resilience for the first time in 2024.
With TIBER-AT, OeNB and FMA step up resilience building against cyberattacks in the financial sector
TIBER stands for “Threat Intelligence-based Ethical Red Teaming” and basically means that ethical, i.e. “good,” hackers (red team) take on the job of simulating real-life cyberattacks against a given financial entity – upon the latter’s request and at the latter’s responsibility. The purpose of such tests is to increase the cyber resilience of the tested financial entities, so that they may be adequately prepared for any real attacks.
TIBER-AT is the Austrian implementation of the TIBER-EU framework, a cybersecurity testing framework developed by the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). In this context, the OeNB and the FMA are paving the way for the application of the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). Under this regulation, carrying out threat-led penetration testing, i.e. structured attack simulations based on the TIBER-EU framework, will be mandatory for certain financial entities from 2025 onward.
OeNB and FMA set supervisory priorities for 2024
The identified risks are also reflected in the supervisory priorities set by the OeNB and the FMA for 2024:
- safeguarding banking sector resilience and financial stability;
- mitigating real estate risks;
- monitoring digital tech use and risks from information and communication technologies, i.e. assessing opportunities and risks of technological progress;
- addressing climate-related and environmental risks and the associated transformation of the economy;
- updating regulations; and
- addressing governance issues.
These six topics are in line with the SSM supervisory priorities and the European Banking Authority (EBA) work program for 2024.
Globally agreed Basel III reforms applicable in the EU from January 2025
After long negotiations, the working-level arrangements for the “2021 Banking Package” were completed in late 2023. This was the final step in implementing the globally agreed Basel III reforms in the EU. The adjustments made to the EU’s Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR III) and the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD VI) are scheduled to apply from January 2025.
The centerpiece of the reform is the introduction of an output floor, which is intended to limit the possible reduction to 72.5% of the risk weights calculated using internal models compared with the standardized approach for credit risk. The “2021 Banking Package” also explicitly integrated ESG concepts into various areas of the regulatory and supervisory framework, such as reporting, disclosure, stress testing and the supervisory review and evaluation process.
Agreement on reforming the EU framework for crisis management and deposit insurance pending
Negotiations on the European Commission’s proposal to revise the crisis management and deposit insurance (CMDI) framework could not be concluded by the end of 2023 as planned. In the process of negotiations, two major faultlines had emerged among the EU member states: One controversy arose from the intention to rank all deposits equal in the creditor hierarchy. This means that deposit guarantee institutions would lose the prerogative of receiving priority compensation in the event of bankruptcy proceedings for indemnifying depositors up to the level of deposit protection (EUR 100,000). The other controversy was about facilitating access to deposit guarantee funds for the purpose of stabilizing crisis banks. The idea is to make it easier to use deposit guarantee funds for recovery purposes before a deposit guarantee event even occurs.
Given the disputes about this proposal, the negotiations are unlikely to be concluded before the EU elections in June 2024.
The OeNB defines systemic security requirements for payment system oversight
Under Article 44a Nationalbank Act, the OeNB is responsible for the oversight of payment systems. In this capacity, the OeNB, for the first time in 2023, adopted a regulation on the systemic security of payment systems, which defines the supervisory practice of payment systems oversight. The regulation, which entered into force on August 1, 2023, is addressed to payment system operators and participants.
2 The Russian business is being reduced; work on the deconsolidation continued in 2023.
New transparency platform for savings deposit rates
In Austria, savings deposits have typically been the single most popular form of investment, virtually across all ages. To meet the public’s need for reliable information on saving matters, the OeNB now offers a digital transparency tool for savings rates (available in German only).
The tool provides an overview of interest rates for overnight deposits as well as for deposits with lock-in periods of 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. In other words, we make offers comparable, with a “one stop shop” for individual banks’ interest rate terms for savings deposits (without ancillary conditions or special conditions, as granted to new clients).
The OeNB launched this project in September 2023 in close cooperation with bank officials and the Austrian Economic Chambers. The OeNB’s statistics business areas were responsible for coordinating the exercise, developing the tool and ensuring data quality. Our statistical IT systems make it possible to update the data daily in an automated fashion. Moreover, the key results are visualized with an aggregation application developed in-house.
The transparency tool, launched on December 6, 2023, met with lively interest from the outset. In the first few weeks we registered 40,000 clicks.
Building better data
The OeNB has been collecting vast amounts of data and seeks to keep improving data accessibility, as laid down in a data strategy adopted by the Governing Board to this effect in 2022. The idea is to develop the OeNB from a data-aware institution to a data-driven institution.
In practical terms, we started out in 2023 by optimizing cooperation among data producers, data users and IT service providers, above all with regard to the exchange and use of data. As we seek to harness the full potential of our existing data assets in an efficient manner, we also made sure to start with a comprehensive stock-taking exercise across all business areas.
In 2024, we will launch a data catalog tool that reflects the full range of the OeNB’s data products and assets. The data catalog will provide a harmonized view of data available within the OeNB and contain key meta data, including brief descriptions, contacts and data sources. With a view to building better data, we are moreover going to implement policies for data handling as well as roles and responsibilities.
Efficient data collection and processing within the ESCB
Among other things, the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) seeks to enhance the process of collecting and handling statistical banking data. Ultimately, the ESCB collects data above all for safeguarding monetary and financial stability. In order to achieve this objective, the Governing Council of the ECB decided in 2023 to develop a single ESCB-wide system for collecting, processing and analyzing data in the euro area, called IReF (Integrated Reporting Framework). With IReF, the ESCB seeks to ease the burden on commercial banks and increase data quality and analytical flexibility. The project is currently in the analysis phase, and implementation is expected to start in the second half of 2025. IReF-based reporting should start in late 2027.
This ESCB initiative serves the aim of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to overhaul financial reporting in general – including reporting for banking supervision and bank resolution purposes.
At the OeNB, an integrated reporting system has been in place for years. We set it up in cooperation with banks and continue to develop it further. Given the expertise we have been building, we were invited by the ECB to contribute actively to the IReF rollout in several key positions.
Alert system for potential issues in the banking system
We also seek to use artificial intelligence (AI) to harness the full potential of the OeNB’s supervisory statistics, with a view to better identifying patterns that point to gross irregularities at individual banks. The aim is to further improve monitoring of banks, enhance data quality and make more efficient and comprehensive use of data.
With academic support, experts from the involved business areas – statistics, supervision and IT – conducted proof-of-concept tests in the summer of 2023 to assess the feasibility of using AI/machine learning for the intended purpose. The project team showed that AI tools would indeed significantly improve the monitoring and early detection of potential irregularities at individual banks. We assessed both supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques. Supervised learning tools apply computer algorithms developed and monitored by data scientists. Unsupervised learning tools apply algorithms that have been coded to discern patterns and connect the dots without external intervention.
In addition, we have been testing language models by feeding them texts from public and supervisory sources. Again, the idea was to use language technology to identify potential banking irregularities.
One of our findings was that there is room for enhancing the consistency of individual reporting data and that it would be important to close relevant data gaps. These will be our to-dos for the coming years.
Cash remains most popular for payments in Austria
New OeNB study on the payment behavior of households
Austrians prefer to pay in cash at the point of sale, for example in supermarkets or shops. According to a recent OeNB study (available in German only), 93% of respondents believe that cash is best suited for point-of-sale payments. In actual fact, 63% of all point-of-sale purchases continue to be made with banknotes and coins.
Austrians have a strong affinity for cash: 95% of respondents cannot imagine a world without it. 64% consider it important for cash to maintain its current role. In other words, the approval ratings for cash have returned to pre-pandemic levels. The importance of cash is also reflected in the fact that only a very small minority (below 5%) stands ready to do entirely without banknotes and coins. We have been monitoring these developments since 2018, when we started to regularly survey the attitude of the general public in Austria toward cash.
Safeguarding supply and acceptance of cash in Austria
Access to cash remains good in Austria. Banks ensure a high density of ATMs, from which cash can be withdrawn free of charge in Austria. To maintain this good infrastructure and to make it sustainable will require additional efforts, given the changing affinity for cash among the general public and the increasing adoption of digital tech in all walks of life. The OeNB is playing an active role in this regard.
We provide all banks with cash in a cost-efficient manner – in line with the Eurosystem’s cash strategy . In doing so, we manage the cash cycle and make a significant contribution to the free choice of payment instruments.
We also regularly liaise with key cash partners and support Austrian interests vis-à-vis the European Commission and the ECB.
Executive Director Eduard Schock delivering a lecture at the OeNB
New EU regulation on cash access and acceptance
On June 28, 2023, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal codifying the legal tender status of euro banknotes and coins. The aim was to ensure that euro cash is accepted throughout the euro area and remains accessible to citizens and businesses. The European Commission’s proposal also contains rules on the digital euro that could be issued as a complement
to cash.
With a view to consumers’ choice of payments, we are committed to strengthening the role of cash and ensuring that credit institutions provide cash to the general public. This was also the case we made during the consultation process on the new EU Cash Regulation. We are also in favor of making it compulsory for businesses to accept cash and the digital euro alike. Meaningful exceptions should be clearly defined.
The new EU rules should continue to be minimum standards, so that stricter national rules are possible and permissible in Austria. Such rules may be called for because national preferences for cash and digital payments differ across the euro area.
Design of future euro banknotes
On November 29, 2023, the Governing Council of the ECB selected “European culture” and “rivers and birds” as possible themes for future euro banknotes. The decision was based on the results of two surveys conducted in summer 2023. Euro area citizens had been asked to choose their favorites from a list of seven proposals. The final design of the next banknote series is expected to be revealed in 2026.
Sustainable cash supply as a strategic objective of OeNB affiliates
In its day-to-day operations, the OeNB is supported by a network of subsidiaries . These companies contribute substantially to the OeNB’s economic and environmental sustainability.
Our affiliates in the cash sector essentially ensure a robust supply of cash for Austrian businesses and consumers. Our common goal is to remain an innovative and reliable partner in the cash supply chain in Austria and beyond.
The overarching goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040 also applies to the OeNB’s affiliates. It is up to the individual affiliates to chart out the path to achieving this goal and to document advances in progress reports.
The digital euro – cash for the digital space
More than 90% of central banks worldwide are looking into the possibility of issuing digital central bank money. According to a study conducted by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), two-thirds of these central banks consider it likely or possible to be issuing digital money for daily payments in the short or medium term. The OeNB, together with the ECB and other central banks in the Eurosystem, has been working on a digital euro. The Eurosystem aims to be ready to take a decision on the issuance of a digital euro once the legal framework has been agreed. Hence the intensive preparatory work we have undertaken so far.
What would be a digital euro? The digital euro would be digital cash for the euro area. Just like cash, it would be issued by the central bank and would be available to all citizens in a safe and reliable manner. It is the job of central banks to ensure price stability to preserve the value of the currency. A euro is a euro, whether in cash or in digital form. People would be able to obtain it from banks and other supervised payment service providers, but also from ATMs against cash. Payment service providers would provide their customers with a digital wallet in the form of an app or card, thus retaining their intermediary role also with regard to a digital euro. The digital euro would complement cash and make that part of the digital space accessible for consumers where they cannot pay by cash – such as online shops, car sharing platforms, or mobile services. The digital euro would be accepted for digital payments to be made to public authorities, or it could be used among family members that cannot meet live. Use of the digital euro would be optional rather than mandatory, and without restrictions. Like cash, the digital euro would not be remunerated.
Petia Niederländer (Director of the Payments, Risk Monitoring and Financial Literacy Department) at an event on the digital euro and payments
Paying anywhere anytime, for free, across the euro area
It is an achievement that we can pay anywhere at any time. Customer solutions may have become more customer-friendly and smarter, but there is no single digital payment solution that would be invariably accepted by any merchant in the euro area. The digital euro would give all citizens in the euro area, for the first time, a digital payment option that would allow them to pay throughout the euro area at points of sale and for e-commerce and government services, without having to pay an extra fee.
The digital euro must be inclusive: Making digital payments must be safe and easy for people with disabilities.This underlines that the digital euro is a public good. As legal tender, the digital euro would be available to all and would be accepted throughout the currency area.
Privacy protection has been written large during the design phase for the development of a digital euro. In other words, central bank control does not go so far as to violate the anonymity of payments, and data access for payment service providers is limited to the data they need to process payments, address claims and combat fraud. In other words, the payers’ data are protected. Taking the digital euro concept of privacy one step further, offline payments would enable users to conduct transactions between their devices, without a third party being involved.
Strengthening competition and autonomy, and safeguarding the independence of monetary policy
The decline in the use of cash means an increasing shift from public to private forms of payment. This shift cannot necessarily be explained with the increasing smartness and the decreasing complexity of payment solutions. In many digital purchasing processes, for example in e-commerce, the use of cash is not an option to begin with. Some payment solutions are used only at regional or national levels – examples include Girocard (Germany) or Carte Bancaire (France) and mobile payment solutions such as TWINT (Switzerland) or Bizum (Spain). This has caused the payments market in Europe to become highly fragmented.
Two-thirds of all card payments in Europe are dominated by a handful of non-European providers. This weakens competition and undermines European autonomy. The digital euro should provide a European standard and a European system to foster innovation and growth; it should also ensure the stability and security of payments in Europe.
Moreover, the digital euro would be a means to preserving public money and an independent monetary policy in the euro area.
Focus on financial stability
In the euro area, a digital euro could bring benefits for financial stability by providing the safest alternative to private digital payment solutions. In recent years, non-European big tech companies active in European payments have substantially increased their market share. The use of crypto assets and stablecoins has also become increasingly widespread.
However, unless properly designed, digital central bank money could also create risks to financial stability and might cause bank services and functions to become crowded out by other providers. Digital central bank money might also affect demand for bank deposits, which are usually a stable and often cost-efficient form of bank financing. The extent to which bank deposits would be crowded out by the digital euro depends on which product consumers might consider to be more attractive. Depending on the size of the crowding-out effect, this could adversely impact banks’ liquidity, profitability and overall resilience. This, in turn, could affect a wide range of intermediation and financial services typically provided by banks.
Therefore, the digital euro addresses financial stability concerns through an appropriate cap on digital euro holdings per person. Such a limit protects banks from incurring large deposit outflows. Studies show that an upper digital euro holding limit of EUR 3,000 per person would effectively mitigate the impact on banks’ liquidity risks and funding structures.
Benefits for merchants and payment service providers
The digital euro is also meant to boost domestic trade. Merchants would be given an additional payment option that is cost-effective and accessible to all customers. Moreover, merchant fees should be going down as the Eurosystem will not charge any handling or settlement fees for digital euro payments.
With the digital euro, payment service providers would have a European platform for providing innovative additional services that would be available across the euro area, and for which they might charge a given fee. This will allow them to attract new customers and to successfully retain existing customers. Technically, digital euro transactions are based on the four-party system we know from the payment cards business: The merchant’s bank receives a merchant fee which it shares with the payer’s bank, so that the payer’s bank stands ready to enable its customers to recycle their digital euro assets for other payments.
Innovations in noncash payments
2023 marked the biggest technical change in payments since the introduction of the euro: T2, the new market infrastructure for large-value and individual payments in central bank money, became operational. Around 42,000 institutions across Europe had to be migrated. The new system has been put in place for large-value payments, i.e. mainly payments from banks and central banks. With T2, these payments will be processed in accordance with the latest ISO standards. Moreover, the system has been readied for the integration of add-ons for digital euro operations and the like. In addition, the settlement of payments has been separated from the settlement of central bank operations.
The OeNB contributed significantly to rolling out the innovation in the Austrian market, namely to around 700 banks (directly or indirectly). It was our task to coordinate the migration efforts and provide information and training.
Furthermore, the infrastructure for settling retail payments in Austria and the euro area was modernized as well. This included migrating the clearing business between banks to a new technical platform in mid-2023.
Sustainability: promoted across all business areas
Sustainability is an intrinsic part of what we do at the OeNB, and of how we seek to deliver on our mandate. Our definition of sustainability is based on the concept of ESG – environmental, social and governance factors. Environmental sustainability, for example, is a cornerstone of our environmental policy. And social and governance factors are among our mission statement principles: “Our endeavors are founded on technical expertise and social competence, transparency, ethical values and responsible corporate governance.”
Below, the OeNB’s environmental statement for the past year provides an overview of our environmental achievements in 2023. In the first half of 2024, the OeNB’s asset managers will issue an investment sustainability report for 2023, in tandem with other Eurosystem central banks. The first such review for 2022 was published in early 2023.
OeNB banking supervisors contribute to committee work on developing international provisions for how to deal with ESG risks, such as sustainable financial products and climate-related stress tests, as well as climate-related and environmental risks. Supervisory inspections serve to establish whether credit institutions take sustainability risks into account. At the European level, this is done through the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). At the national level, we integrate ESG issues into the supervisory review and evaluation process. To quantify climate-related risks, the OeNB’s banking supervision function contributes to the work started at the European level in late 2023 on climate risk scenario analysis, which covers all significant banks in Austria.
In the statistics area, the focus was on tapping into new data sources and helping to shape the scope of future reporting requirements for credit institutions at the European level.
Intern Pia Spitzauer with one of our “OeNBikes” for eco-friendly short business-related errands
Turning to risks, we continued to advance the integration of ESG risks into the OeNB’s risk management framework in 2023. Internal reporting now includes selected transition and physical risk indicators. We also conducted a climate stress test for our nonmonetary policy portfolio for the first time, focusing on direct holdings of government bonds. Using two adverse scenarios, we simulated an unfavorable performance of key risk parameters and loss potentials, estimating the direct financial consequences for the OeNB over the next three years.
HR management: excelling in staff retention and recruitment through employer branding
In addition to the typical range of human resources activities, we paid particular attention in 2023 to step up employer branding measures to increase our appeal as an employer.
With such measures, we seek to position the OeNB as an attractive employer and give prospective candidates for OeNB jobs insights into our corporate culture. This makes it easier to attract new talent and to retain existing staff. The need for professional employer branding has been growing with the growing shortage of skilled labor.
Among other things, we have been stepping up our presence in social media. In particular, we are actively using the LinkedIn network not only to provide insights into our daily work, but also to share our unique business culture. Because we are proud of our staff, who make the OeNB what it is.
Another building block of our employer branding activities are recruitment events, which facilitate direct exchanges with interested candidates and enable us to present the OeNB as an appealing employer. In 2023, we focused on the areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and IT, for instance by hosting a dedicated event for female STEM students. Thanks to such recruiting events and other activities, we were able to welcome a total of 87 student interns in 2023.
Employer branding goes beyond attracting new talent; it also extends to engaging, developing and retaining existing employees. After all, it is the diversity, skills and passion of our staff that makes us unique as the central bank of the Republic of Austria. In 2023, our in-house health and corporate wellness program included cancer prevention and information events (focusing on breast and prostate cancer), healing nutrition talks and “stop smoking” support programs.
Open doors at the OeNB at the National Daughters Day
Furthermore, we intensively addressed psychosocial stress factors. Based on the findings from a staff survey, which we shared in a transparent manner, we invited a broad range of focus groups to identify action points, some of which have already been addressed.
Compliance: whistleblower system protects us, our employees and disclosure
Under the national Whistleblower Protection Act, the OeNB was obliged, as of August 25, 2023, to make arrangements which allow employees to disclose breaches of law without fear of victimization. At the OeNB, a digital whistleblower platform has in fact been in place since 2016, enabling employees to disclose information online and anonymously.
Until 2023, our whistleblower program essentially covered economic and property offenses. In 2023, the program was expanded to cover all areas listed in the Whistleblower Protection Act, including public procurement. As the material scope of the whistleblower system goes beyond what is required by law, a staff agreement needed to be concluded to implement the changes. The staff agreement also includes the measures provided for by law to protect whistleblowers.
Strengthening IT governance and security
In 2023, the OeNB responded to the rise in cyber threats by specifically enhancing its IT policies and strengthening cyber security. Here is what we consider essential.
1. Raising awareness of current information security risks:
The cyber threat landscape is volatile and ever-evolving, with phishing attacks being the predominant type of threat. The OeNB addresses this risk with targeted training courses, eLearning modules, simulated phishing campaigns and cyber security exercises.
2. Technical innovations in IT security:
The OeNB invests in a modern security infrastructure with new technologies to build a strong line of defense against cyber threats. To identify vulnerabilities, classify and automate response, we use artificial intelligence and other advanced solutions.
3. Modernization of IT systems:
The OeNB continuously upgrades its IT systems. This means that the technologies we use are always state-of-the-art, and that they ensure secure and efficient operation.
4. New function: Enterprise Chief Information Security Officer (E-CISO):
In 2023, we created a new function that serves to centralize and further strengthen our information security strategy and especially that of our subsidiaries. This enables us to manage information security in a uniform manner and to exploit synergies across business areas.
5. Implementing the Eurosystem’s cyber resilience requirements:
The OeNB is well on track to meet the basic cyber resilience requirements defined by the Eurosystem for financial market infrastructures by 2025. A large part of the requirements has already been addressed.
Multiple channels for financial education
Financial education works through public schooling
The OeNB actively promotes financial literacy by offering a wide range of financial education solutions for kindergartens, schools and universities.
Our regular program includes workshops, teaching materials and training events. Our latest effort, launched in September 2023 as a pilot project in Lower Austria, is to support kindergartens in delivering financial and consumer education.
We would also like to highlight our active role in the Austrian Foundation for Economic Education. As a founding member, we help to ensure that schools selected for participation receive four years of support for establishing a dedicated economic education program.
Moreover, we launched online parenting lectures in 2023. Topics covered include evidence about children’s financial literacy abilities, pocket money, children’s legal capacity, precautionary savings for children and basic money-handling rules.
In addition to the new initiatives, we took pride in hosting our 15th Euro-Kids-Tour in 2023: Since 2008, the Euro-Bus has been touring Austria to entertain and inform primary school children about the functions of money and the security features of the euro banknotes. During those 15 years, we have reached 121,000 children with the tour.
Financial education works through the National Financial Literacy Strategy
We contribute actively to the National Financial Literacy Strategy, with a view to ensuring that financial education reaches the public at large, beyond public schooling. At present, we are working with the Federal Ministry of Finance to set up a financial education platform as a single point of reference in order to enhance community coordination and advertise financial education initiatives. The OeNB’s role also extends to monitoring the strategy. In 2023, data on a wide range of financial education activities were collected for the first time from different providers. The idea is to get the big picture about Austria’s financial education landscape, and to document achievements and highlight potential for further development.
On the way to financial literacy with the Euro-Kids-Tour
Financial education works through research and evaluation
Through research and reviews, we help ensure that financial education measures actually achieve the desired effects. Hence our monitoring role with regard to the National Financial Literacy Strategy and our commitment to evaluate our kindergarten pilot project. In addition, we would like to highlight two projects on which we worked in 2023:
Together with the Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of Duisburg-Essen, we have been evaluating the economic education pilot project of the Foundation for Economic Education. The initial findings will allow continuous improvement of the program from lessons learned.
Furthermore, rising borrowing rates and the high share of variable rate mortgages have raised a question: How can financial education support individuals in avoiding financial hardships and support financial stability? In a study, we developed approaches for effectively cultivating financial awareness among prospective mortgage borrowers and submitted a discussion paper on such initiatives to financial sector officials and the members of parliament.
The OeNB monitors compliance with the Sanctions Act
In 2023, the OeNB expanded and intensified its supervisory role in relation to sanctions. All in all, we carried out 24 on-site inspections. We were able to confirm that Austrian credit institutions have adjusted their processes accordingly to adequately address sanctions. In addition, the extensive sanctions program prompted supervised institutions to strengthen and intensify their sanctioning-related compliance measures.
On-site inspections are the most comprehensive supervisory tool available to the OeNB. They usually take place at the premises of the inspected institution and serve to evaluate all sanctions-related processes, measures and IT systems. Beyond that, on-site inspections made in 2023 served to look into specific areas at two Austrian credit institutions. In addition, the management and compliance officers of eight Austrian credit institutions were invited to the OeNB to present their sanctions-related compliance systems and answer related questions.
The legal basis for these measures is the Sanctions Act 2010. These provisions are our yardstick for checking whether credit institutions, financial institutions and payment institutions comply with sanctions measures. In response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the European Union adopted an unprecedented range of sanctions measures. They target Russian decision-makers and influential economic and political figures from Russia. Furthermore, bans on imports and exports, as well as restrictions on access to the European capital market, are intended to increase the pressure on the Russian government to end military aggression.
Risk management refocused
Approach to enterprise risk management
One of the OeNB’s strategic objectives is to implement an enterprise risk management system by 2025. The aim is to define and regulate the following areas and harmonize their design, structure and processes: compliance risk management, financial risk management, information security risk management, operational risk management, project risk management and affiliate risk management.
In this respect, we pursued a wide range of activities in 2023. For one, we managed to generate a fully harmonized report for 2022. In addition, we implement an integrated IT tool for handling and controlling our risks. Ultimately, we aim at achieving greater automation and standardization. Moreover, we keep refining and evolving our enterprise risk management methodology.
Reorganization 2023: risk management division established
Our middle office division was dissolved as of March 1, 2023, subject to the integration of its tasks into the risk management division (formerly risk monitoring division). This reorganization strengthens risk management, pools resources and exploits synergies. As a stability-oriented institution, the OeNB has always attached great importance to risk management; this focus has been significantly improved through the reorganization.
Rulebook for new investment and risk management approach
The management of nonmonetary policy portfolios has changed conceptually and organizationally in recent years. Accordingly, the regulatory framework was updated in 2023: The regulatory framework documentation follows a hierarchical structure, going from fundamental principles to detailed rules. It defines responsibilities, decision-making competencies and reconciliation processes across business areas for every single document.
Risk appetite statement
The risk appetite statement is revised annually, including in 2023. Essentially, this statement defines the amount of risk the OeNB is willing to accept in pursuit of value when investing its own funds. The risk appetite is a key starting point for defining the strategic asset allocation (SAA) as well as the limit system for investing own funds.
Blackout and other threat scenarios
The OeNB, too, is operating in an environment characterized by volatility and uncertainty. Hence the importance of comprehensively considering and analyzing external global threat scenarios with potentially negative implications for the OeNB. Since early 2022, we have been intensively investigating the threat of a prolonged, large-scale power blackout and response measures, not least in light of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In addition to an extensive contingency plan with concrete operational instructions, we developed a blackout test concept with external support, and carried out numerous tests in 2023.
Furthermore, the range of analyzed threats was expanded to include additional scenarios, namely extreme weather events as well as radiation and cybercrime incidents. In 2024, we will adjust the processes for identifying emerging threats. The idea is to integrate more perspectives and involve the top management more closely.
Public outreach: new approach to communication and publication
The OeNB’s “secure payments” information campaign
“Whether you decide to pay by cash, card or mobile phone, be it online or abroad: security matters” – With this motto, the OeNB’s 2023 communications were geared to the security of the different types of payment we use. For maximum impact, we specifically targeted the summer holiday season with our campaign. To accompany the campaign, we created a dedicated information hub on our website. The information hub homepage turned out to be the third most frequently accessed individual page on the OeNB’s website. We were able to achieve 3.7 million impressions via digital advertising campaigns on info screens in the public space and on two of the OeNB’s social media channels, Instagram and Facebook.
The community on the OeNB’s social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter/X and YouTube) grew by around 14,400 followers in 2023, to around 41,000 followers. We measured more than 80,000 user interactions, such as comments posted, contributions shared or likes given. To support the campaign, we posted 86 self-produced reels – an average of 7 reels per month.
The social media campaign was accompanied by podcasts, conferences and interviews. The same mix of activities was used to familiarize the general public with the digital euro , given plans to roll out a digital version of our currency in the coming years, as a complement to cash.
In 2023, we continued the series of euro-related townhall meetings (“Red ma übern euro” – “Let’s talk about the euro”) launched in 2022. All in all, there were four events in four different provinces, which continued to draw large audiences.
The OeNB seeks to be perceived as offering independent expertise. In our external communication, we have started to publish individual analyses or reports in a more timely manner, following a publication management review: As of 2024, reports or blogs are published on the OeNB’s information channels (see “Periodical publications”) as new articles are released, rather than only in one go when the given series of publications is complete.
Governor Robert Holzmann at the “Let’s talk about the euro” townhall meeting in Linz
The OeNB shares expertise through central bank technical cooperation
2023 showed once again: Even a relatively small central bank like ours can be highly active in technical cooperation among central banks. Our experts continued to share their know-how and expertise with other central bank officials, among other things under an EU-funded program launched in 2022 to support the central banks of EU candidate countries in the Western Balkans. In this context, the OeNB cooperated bilaterally with four central banks from the Western Balkans and brought together experts in cash management in the fall of 2023.
In addition to these bilateral cooperations, the OeNB has been offering a broad range of courses through the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI) for decades, focusing on economic, fiscal, monetary and financial market policy. Most course participants come from the CESEE and Caucasus regions and from Central Asia. The JVI is funded and steered by the Federal Ministry of Finance, the IMF and the OeNB. In 2023, the JVI returned to full capacity after the pandemic years. All in all, the JVI offered a total of 84 courses, 8 of which were hosted by OeNB staff experts, on topical issues such as green finance or diversity and inclusion.
The OeNB promotes science, business development, the arts and culture in Austria
Economic research funding
The OeNB Anniversary Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research and Teaching was set up to help ensure a level playing field for basic research projects on central bank topics. Through our funding, we help make economic research in Austria more competitive and more attractive.
Guided by these strategic considerations, the Governing Board of the OeNB in 2023 approved funding totaling around EUR 6 million for 29 projects. With five awarded projects, the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO; EUR 962,000) was the primary beneficiary of institutional funding, followed by the Vienna University of Economics and Business with four projects (EUR 845,000).
Supporting independent economic research
In the fall of 2021, we thoroughly redesigned the OeNB’s core funding program for Austrian economic research institutions. We believe that independent, high-quality empirical economic research generates valuable input for policymaking and keeps the public informed about the impact of economic policy measures. In fact, the wide range of economic challenges we face today underscores the relevance of economic research as a major public good. At the OeNB, we acknowledge this notion and, by providing financial support, make an essential contribution to keeping economic research independent of politics and industry.
In 2023, the OeNB’s new support program provided the following subsidies to domestic economic research institutions:
- Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) EUR 1,975,000
- Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) EUR 1,250,000
- The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) EUR 665,000
- Complexity Science Hub Vienna (CSH) EUR 265,000
Promoting the arts and culture
In our initiative to regularly acquire works from local artists, we placed the emphasis in 2023 on contemporary works of art, by Gerwald Rockenschaub, Erwin Bohatsch and Esther Stocker. We also managed to acquire a significant painting by Werner Berg from the 1930s, as a contribution to protecting Austria’s cultural landscape.
In 2023, important works from our collection were on loan to a number of Austrian museums, including the Albertina, the Leopold Museum, the Nordico Stadtmuseum Linz, Schloss Schönbrunn and Schloss Bruck in Lienz. The first major exhibition by Maria Lassnig in China was also supported by artwork from the OeNB’s collection. An exhibition at the Schütz Art Museum in Upper Austria featured a selection of the works from the inter-war period that the OeNB has been collecting.
President Harald Mahrer, the mastermind behind the OeNB’s Presidential Innovation Fellowship,
with the first prizewinner, Georg Grüner (Senior Finance Manager at Verbund AG) and
Executive Director Thomas Steiner
Furthermore, with our collection of historical string instruments, we aim at contributing to Austria’s reputation as a land of music. The OeNB’s collection currently numbers 45 instruments, all of which were crafted by the most renowned violinmakers of the Italian and French schools. We traditionally loan the instruments to selected musicians free of charge. This partnership makes it possible to preserve this unique cultural heritage and the precious instruments’ distinct sound for future generations. As part of our long-standing cooperation with the Austrian radio station Ö1, instruments from the OeNB’s collection again featured in concerts held in Vienna, Linz, Innsbruck and Ossiach in 2023. During the concert in Vienna, the winner of a composition contest jointly organized by Ö1 and the OeNB, Soyeon Park, premiered her work entitled “Arcade.”
For those who would like to learn more about where the individual instruments come from and what makes them special: We have published a host of detailed information and scientific evidence on the OeNB’s website .
The OeNB’s Updated Environmental Statement 2023 3
Calculation of CO2 emission values enhanced further
The OeNB has practiced certified environmental management in accordance with the EU EMAS Regulation for 25 years. Since then, we have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by around 60% as a result of numerous improvements in buildings and energy management and the use of certified green electricity. This environmental statement shows the effectiveness of our ongoing efforts to develop our environmental management system further, for instance with new and enhanced measures to improve facility and energy management. One of our sustainability achievements is the enhanced data collection process for calculating the OeNB’s CO2 metrics.
Under the EU’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), we have made the voluntary commitment to continually improve environmental protection within our organization, including the encouragement of employee support. Organizations audited under EMAS effectively contribute to environmental protection, save costs and show social responsibility.
Under the ECB climate agenda 2022, the Governing Council of the ECB supports green transition within its mandate, with a view to mitigating risks to price and financial stability and risks to the Eurosystem balance sheet. In accordance with its mandate, the Eurosystem is taking additional steps to better integrate climate-related aspects into monetary policy operations. It is doing so in particular with regard to corporate bond purchases and the collateral framework for Eurosystem credit operations, and by introducing climate-related financial disclosures and enhancing risk management. All these activities are also aligned with the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. The European Climate Law 2021 also defined the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to the levels of 1990.
Consistent efforts in business ecology
Our most recent basic initiatives to make office work greener include the following measures: Working from home has been very well accepted by our staff, and many OeNB or ECB working meetings have been changed to a virtual format for good. This reduces the need for travel. Moreover, those who do need to travel are encouraged to take the train rather than the plane.
With experts in climate change, architecture and urban greening we have developed a project aimed at enhancing the OeNB’s climate fitness. With the help of climate change models, we identified urban temperature hot spots in the OeNB’s neighborhood and on the OeNB’s premises. In 2023, we developed specific measures in accordance with these findings (table 5).
First, we are modernizing and revitalizing our buildings to keep them fit for use, more than one century after which the OeNB’s head office was first constructed. This also helps us save resources. Second, given the increasing number of extreme heat days with daytime temperatures above 30°C, we are implementing better insulation, greening and shading measures as an environmentally friendly alternative to air conditioning. In addition, we undertook the following greening measures in 2023:
- We lowered office room temperatures in winter, shortened the operating times of ventilation facilities outside office hours, reduced lighting hours in corridors and on the façade of the main building and saved energy by reducing office cooling in summer.
- We continued to encourage environmental, climate and research projects by offering increased support.
- We installed a new IT dashboard for measuring storage capacity requirements across business areas in order to save energy.
- We managed to get our printing office recertified under the EU Ecolabel and the Austrian Ecolabel 24 for printing products. This confirms that our printing processes continue to live up to economic and ecological standards.
- We expanded environmental content on our websites to keep raising awareness.
- We launched a “climate challenge” to create extra impetus for our staff suggestion scheme, eliciting 36 suggestions from staff members.
- Our managerial fleet consists mostly of plug-in hybrid vehicles and we provide our staff with electric bicycles (OeNBikes) for official errands.
See table 5 for further measures, including plans to install new photovoltaic facilities.
Certified energy management under ISO 50001 ensures energy savings
Our energy management has been certified under ISO 50001 since 2014 – and since then we have adopted many more measures to save energy:
In 2023, improvements in building technology and yet another winter with mild outside temperatures made it possible to keep district heating consumption at very low levels.
Annual electricity consumption per employee totaled 5.1 MWh. For many years, the OeNB has been purchasing electricity from certified renewable sources only. We also rely on heat recovery, façade-integrated photovoltaics, sustainable building use as well as optimized lighting concepts with motion detectors and LED lamps. Measures to improve technical facilities range from precision controls for pumps, ventilators, elevators and sunshades to the installation of a free-cooling system for cooling our head office by directing cooler outside air into the building’s interior at night. This system does not require much operating energy in itself.
On June 5, 2023, the “World Environment Day,” we organized a special awareness-raising event for staff members. With the OeNB’s Anniversary Fund, we provide funding for renaturation and climate change research programs.
Our staff members are welcome to use the OeNB’s charging stations also for private electric bicycles and scooters. We thus seek to encourage the use of such climate-friendly alternatives, in addition to encouraging the use of public transport. All OeNB charging stations are supplied with certified green electricity.
Green finance activities
At the OeNB, we have put in place a green finance platform to share across business areas information about economic effects of climate change and the measurement of such effects. In 2023, this platform served to discuss current EU regulatory initiatives, climate-related aspects of monetary policy and the collection and processing of climate-relevant information in the Eurosystem. The platform moreover served to coordinate the OeNB’s participation in the plenary session and the working groups of the Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System (NGFS). Other bodies working on environmental sustainability to which we contribute include the ECB Climate Forum and the Advisory Board of the Green Finance Alliance, a voluntary initiative of Austrian financial institutions with ambitious climate targets.
Lectures on green topics
To promote awareness around resource conservation, climate protection and biodiversity and to highlight possible solutions, we organized a number of events in 2023 on topics such as:
- Climate change, pandemics, diseases – our eating habits and their consequences
- Technological and economic challenges of the energy transition
- The international dimension of the energy transition
- “Environment Day at the OeNB” with Executive Director Thomas Steiner, Matthias Schroth and Martin Much (OeNB Environmental Officer): information on facility and energy management, IT storage space enhancement, green finance and staff commuting survey, including a presentation of the OeNB’s kindergarten
- Alternatives to gas – climate-friendly, cost-effective, realistic?
- E-fuel opportunities and limits
- The future of diet: endless crisis or revolutionary transformation?
-
Would a ban on combustion engines work? Impact on competitiveness and global climate
Table 1: The OeNB’s ecological indicators (2021–2023) Unit 2021 2022 2023 Energy Electricity consumption per FTE2 MWh 5.1 5.2 5.1 Heat consumption2 kWh per m2 46 48 47 District cooling2 kWh per m2 53 45 42 Total energy consumption (buildings)3 MWh 12,813 12,518 12,145 of which: renewable energy4 MWh 8,959 8,842 8,647 Total energy consumption including business travel
and transport, vehicles, emergency generators5MWh 13,171 13,275 14,236 Water Drinking water consumption per FTE3 liters per day 16 23 31 Industrial water consumption per FTE3 liters per day 15 30 32 Total water consumption per FTE 3, 6 liters per day 31 53 63 Consumption of materials and products Total paper consumption per FTE7 kg 15 24 14 Consumption of printing/copying paper per FTE Sheets 2,307 4,266 3,242 Share of recycled copying paper % 46 49 53 Consumption of cleaning agents8 g per m2 5 8 13 Total CO2 emissions per FTE9 tons 1.9 2.2 2.4 Quelle: OeNB. 1 Number of employees (full-time equivalents – FTEs): 2021 = 1,133; 2022 = 1,129.3, 2023 = 1,132.2. The OeNB’s environmental
management system according to EMAS covers the following locations: Vienna (main building, Otto-Wagner-Platz 3; northern office
building, Rotenhausgasse 4; and the areas in the Money Center that are assigned to the OeNB, Garnisongasse 15; all 1090 Vienna) and
OeNB – Western Austria (Adamgasse 2, 6020 Innsbruck).2 All energy data on buildings include the Money Center but exclude the location OeNB – Western Austria and the Brussels
Representative Office (around 20 FTEs). The heating and cooling indicators have been aligned with the energy management framework.3 Partly lower energy and above all water consumption in 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 4 Since 2010, the OeNB has procured green electricity from certified providers. 5 From 2023, total consumption includes vehicle charging power and the power consumed by emergency generators. 6 Excluding the location OeNB – Western Austria and the Brussels Representative Office. Broken down by industrial water and
drinking water.7 Based on paper purchased, i.e. including stocks. Total consumption: 16,354 kg. 8 Total consumption in 2023: 972 liters. 9 Operation of facilities and business travel and transport; total in 2023: 2,674 tons. See table 2 for conversion factors (including
indirect greenhouse gas emissions). Includes energy consumption for buildings, business travel and transport, transportation,
emergency generators, waste, office paper and employee commuting (data for 2022 have been recalculated based on the Greenhouse
Gas Protocol, without prejudice to fully accounting for scope 3 emissions).Note: Land used: 20,758 m2, sealed surface: 17,860 m2, green area 4,520 m2 (including green roof areas). The following indicators
required by EMAS are not provided because of negligible results: emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants such as
CH4, N2O, HFC, PFC, SF6 or SO2, NOX and fine dust.
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tons of CO2 equivalents1 | |||
| Scope 1 emissions | |||
| Vehicle fleet | 60.7 | 71.8 | 58.3 |
| Cooling agents | 5.0 | 6.7 | 1.4 |
| Emergency generator tests | 12.0 | 13.1 | 25.3 |
| Subtotal | 77.7 | 91.6 | 85.0 |
| Scope 2 emissions | |||
| District heating | 699.3 | 638.3 | 627.3 |
| District cooling | 666.4 | 664.4 | 1,005.8 |
| Subtotal | 1,365.7 | 1,302.7 | 1,633.1 |
| Scope 3 emissions | |||
|
Energy provision (electricity,
district heating and cooling, diesel)2 |
79.3 | 79.8 | 90.5 |
| Business travel by airplane3 | 61.0 | 441.3 | 480.2 |
| Business travel by car3 | 9.1 | 20.9 | 37.0 |
| Business travel by train4 | 0.3 | 3.9 | 2.5 |
| External data center | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Vehicle fleet | – | – | 16.4 |
| Emergency generator tests | – | – | 7.1 |
| Waste5 | 17.3 | 45.3 | 56.3 |
| Commuting5 | 99.2 | 164.9 | 246.6 |
| Office paper5 | 13.8 | 24.0 | 15.1 |
| Subtotal | 284.9 | 785.0 | 956.5 |
| Total | 1,728.3 | 2,179.3 | 2,674.6 |
| Source: OeNB. | |||
|
1 Greenhouse gas emissions including indirect effects; updated conversion factors (sources):
– Other energy sources: Environment Agency Austria (Vienna):
– Waste: Ecoinvent: https://ecoinvent.org/ (version 3.7.1) and climate data tool for Styria:
– Paper: Environment Agency Germany: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/
– Cooling agents: Environment Agency Germany: https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/
|
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|
2 The OeNB’s greenhouse gas balance was aligned with the Greenhouse Gas
Protocol in 2023, without prejudice to fully accounting for scope 3 emission. The OeNB procures green electricity from certified providers. |
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|
3 Some travel-related fluctuations are due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of
2022, figures had more or less returned to pre-pandemic levels. |
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4 The OeNB encourages rail travel as an environmentally friendly business travel
alternative, which has caused the share of rail travel to increase. |
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|
5 Emissions related to waste, employee commuting and office paper are recorded under
scope 3 emissions from 2023 onward. The data for 2022 and 2021 were adjusted accordingly. |
|||
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business travel by airplane1 | 154,907 | 642,631 | 1.146,046 |
| Business travel by car | 39,933 | 96,145 | 148,379 |
| Business travel by train2 | 20,400 | 201,000 | 310,200 |
| Fuels for transport | 19,768 | 23,604 | 24,676 |
| Source: OeNB. | |||
| 1 Lower mileages in 2021 and 2022 are to some extent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | |||
|
2 The OeNB encouraged rail travel as an environmentally friendly business travel alternative
in 2022 and 2023, which caused the share of rail travel to increase. |
|||
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| kg | |||
| Nonhazardous materials1 | 39,190 | 35,979 | 49,248 |
| Nonhazardous materials per FTE | 35 | 32 | 44 |
| Hazardous materials1 | 10,639 | 10,855 | 16,869 |
| Hazardous materials per FTE2 | 9 | 10 | 15 |
| Recyclables1, 2 | 87,965 | 105,590 | 121,690 |
| Recyclables per FTE | 78 | 94 | 107 |
| Total waste and recyclables | 137,794 | 152,424 | 187,080 |
| Source: OeNB. | |||
|
1 Two decades of rigorous waste separation and recycling have helped reduce these
indicators. The figures for 2021 and 2022 reflect pandemic-related reductions and waste collection dates right before or after the turn of the year. |
|||
| 2 Fluctuations in waste paper due to office moves and archive clearances. | |||
| Year | Status | Action | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Further greening of procurement | |||
|
Procuring printers according to ecological criteria to reduce energy consumption
and waste |
2024 | planned | business areas |
| Hiring a cleaning contractor with a green cleaning certificate | 2024 | to be continued | business areas |
| Procuring office material according to ecological criteria (e-procurement) | 2024 | to be continued | business areas |
|
Responsible resource use, further reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and
electricity consumption |
|||
| Installing a rooftop solar photovoltaic system (main building) | 2024 | planned | energy specialists |
| Improving the energy efficiency of windows (main building) | 2024 | planned | energy specialists |
| Installing a rooftop solar photovoltaic system (Money Center) | 2024 | planned | energy specialists |
|
Improving the energy efficiency of the windows and facade,
installing automatic sun shading (northern office building) |
2024 | planned | energy specialists |
| Installing a rooftop solar photovoltaic system (northern office building) | 2024 | planned | energy specialists |
| Planting trees in the entrance area to reduce hot spot temperatures (main building) | 2024 | planned | business areas |
| Renewing the ventilation station (main building, eastern top floor) | 2024 | planned | energy specialists |
| Installing district heating (OeNB – Western Austria) |
2024/
2025 |
planned | IG Immobiliengesellschaft |
| Installing LED lighting in ancillary rooms (northern office building) | 2024 | planned | energy specialists |
|
Implementing a sustainable office program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
by involving all business areas |
2024 | continued | business areas |
| Defining action points to enhance the OeNB’s climate fitness (urban heating program) | 2023 | implemented | business areas |
| Switching to LED lighting on service floors (main building, northern office building) | 2023 | implemented | energy specialists |
| Modernizing plumbing, cooling and heating installations | 2023 | implemented | energy specialists |
| Continuing project on exchanging ceiling panels and installing new LED lighting | 2023 | implemented | energy specialists |
| Renewing convector fans in the cash counter area | 2023 | implemented | energy specialists |
|
Installing more efficient heat recovery units in the ventilation system
(northern office building) |
2023 | implemented | energy specialists |
| Promoting environmental awareness, training | |||
| Training new staff | 2024 | planned | EPT |
| Promoting green mobility (offering training for OeNBikes) | 2024 | continued | business areas |
| OeNB environment day | 2023 | implemented | EPT |
| Networking and communication | |||
| Joining more international working groups on climate change | 2024 | planned | business areas |
|
Membership in the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the
Financial System (NGFS) |
2024 | continued | EPT |
| Lecturing on green finance | 2024 | continued | EPT |
|
Cooperating with partners such as the Club of Rome, the WWF (World Wide
Fund for Nature), OEGUT (Austrian Society for Environment and Technology) |
2024 | continued | EPT |
| Auditing OeNB – Western Austria (on site) | 2023 | implemented | environmental officer |
| Source: OeNB. | |||
3 Updated Environmental Statement in line with EMAS Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009, complementing the comprehensive environmental statement published in 2021; cutoff date for data: December 31, 2023; locations: Head office (Vienna), OeNB – Western Austria (Innsbruck).
EMAS validation
This updated Environmental Statement published by the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, Otto-Wagner-Platz 3, 1090 Vienna, Austria, has been validated in accordance with the EMAS Regulation by TÜV SÜD, Franz-Grill-Straße 1, Arsenal Objekt 207, 1030 Vienna, Austria, AT-V-0003.
The Lead Verifier of TÜV SÜD herewith confirms that the OeNB’s environmental policy, its environmental program and environmental management system, its environmental review and its environmental audit procedures conform to Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 (EMAS Regulation), as amended by Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/2026 of 19 December 2018, and validates the relevant information for the Environmental Statement in accordance with Annex IV section B points (a) to (h).
Vienna, January 2024
Johann Schröpfer, Lead Environmental Verifier
The OeNB’s next comprehensive environmental statement will be published in spring 2025.
Direct and indirect equity interests
Table 6 shows the OeNB’s direct and indirect equity interests in line with Article 68 paragraph 4 Nationalbank Act.
| Table 6 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct and indirect equity interests of the OeNB as on December 31, 2023 | ||||||
|
Share
in % |
Company | Capital | ||||
| 2.3084 | European Central Bank, Frankfurt | EUR | 10,825,007,069.61 | |||
| 100 | Münze Österreich Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 6,000,000.00 | |||
| 100 | Schoeller Münzhandel GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 1,017,420.00 | |||
| (100) | 100 | Schoeller Münzhandel Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg (Germany) | EUR | 6,000,000.00 | ||
| 50 | PRINT and MINT SERVICES GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 35,000.00 | |||
| 22.25 | proionic GmbH, Raaba-Grambach (Austria) | EUR | 52,877.00 | |||
| (1.13) | 5.09 | Naturbeads Ltd, Malmesbury (UK) | GBP | 10,649.45 | ||
| 16.67 | World Money Fair Holding GmbH, Berlin (Germany) | EUR | 30,000.00 | |||
| (16.67) | 100 | World Money Fair Berlin GmbH, Berlin (Germany) | EUR | 25,000.00 | ||
| (16.67) | 100 | World Money Fair AG, Basel (Switzerland) | CHF | 300,000.00 | ||
| 12.28 | Stirtec GmbH, Premstätten (Austria) | EUR | 95,050.00 | |||
| 100 | Oesterreichische Banknoten- und Sicherheitsdruck GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 10,000,000.00 | |||
| 50 | PRINT and MINT SERVICES GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 35,000.00 | |||
| 0.25 | Europafi S.A.S., Vic-le-Comte (France) | EUR | 133,000,000.00 | |||
| 100 | GELDSERVICE AUSTRIA Logistik für Wertgestionierung und Transportkoordination G.m.b.H., Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 3,336,336.14 | |||
| 100 | OeNPAY Financial Innovation HUB GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 35,000.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Immobilien Invest GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 40,000.00 | |||
| 100 | Austrian House S.A., Brüssel (Belgium) | EUR | 5,841,610.91 | |||
| 100 | City Center Amstetten GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 72,000.00 | |||
| 100 | Cortenbergh 71 S.A., Brüssel (Belgium) | EUR | 6,672,000.00 | |||
| 100 | EKZ Tulln Errichtungs GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 36,000.00 | |||
| 100 | HW Hohe Warte Projektentwicklungs- und ErrichtungsgmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 35,000.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Belgium S.A., Brüssel (Belgium) | EUR | 19,360,309.87 | |||
| 100 | IG Hungary Irodaközpont Kft., Budapest (Hungary) | EUR | 11,852.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Immobilien Beteiligungs GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 40,000.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Immobilien M97 GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 120,000.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Immobilien Management GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 40,000.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Immobilien Mariahilfer Straße 99 GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 72,000.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Immobilien O20-H22 GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 110,000.00 | |||
| 100 | IG Netherlands N1 and N2 B.V., Hoofddorp (Netherlands) | EUR | 91,000.00 | |||
| 100 | OWP5 Betriebs-Liegenschafts-Management GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 35,000.00 | |||
| 100 | BLM Betriebs-Liegenschafts-Management GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 40,000.00 | |||
| 100 | BLM-IG Bauträger GmbH, Vienna (Austria) | EUR | 35,000.00 | |||
| 100 | BLM New York 43 West 61st Street LLC, New York (USA) | USD | 10.00 | |||
| Source: OeNB, subsidiaries. | ||||||
|
Note: The OeNB also holds 8,000 shares (at SDR 5,000 each) and 564 nonvoting shares in the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Basel (Switzerland), as well as 56 shares
(at EUR 125.00 each) in Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), La Hulpe (Belgium). |
||||||
Ownership structure and decision-making bodies
The OeNB is organized as a stock corporation that operates subject to a number of special rules. These are derived from the OeNB’s special status as a central bank and are laid down in the Federal Act on the Oesterreichische Nationalbank 1984 (Nationalbank Act). The OeNB’s nominal capital totals EUR 12 million. Since July 2010 we have had only one shareholder: the Austrian central government.
The OeNB’s General Council
Tasks
The General Council is the supervisory board of the OeNB. It advises the Governing Board on matters relating to management and monetary policy and oversees those operations which do not fall within the remit of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The General Council usually meets on a monthly basis. The General Council and the Governing Board hold a joint meeting at least once a quarter.
The powers of the General Council are governed in particular by Articles 20 to 31 Nationalbank Act. General Council approval is required for a number of management decisions, e.g. for starting and discontinuing lines of business, establishing and closing down branch offices, and acquiring and selling equity interests and real property. Also, the General Council must approve appointments of members of supervisory boards and executive bodies of companies in which the OeNB is a shareholder. Appointments of the second executive tier of the OeNB itself must likewise be approved by the General Council.
Moreover, the General Council has the exclusive right of decision on e.g. submitting to the Austrian federal government a short list of three candidates for appointments to the OeNB’s Governing Board by the Federal President, defining general operational principles in matters outside the remit of the ESCB, approving the annual accounts (financial statements) for submission to the General Meeting, and approving the cost account and investment plan for the next financial year.
Composition
The General Council consists of the President, the Vice President and eight other members. Only Austrian citizens may be members of the General Council. General Council members are appointed by the federal government for a term of five years and may be reappointed.
Personnel changes
The terms of office of two members, Bettina Glatz-Kremsner and Peter Sidlo, expired on February 28, 2023. By government appointment, they were replaced by Sigrid Stagl and Christian Helmenstein with effect from March 1, 2023.
Moreover, Franz Maurer completed his term of office on May 22, 2023. Another three members, Harald Mahrer, Barbara Kolm and Christoph Traunig, reached the end of their term of office on August 31, 2023. Finally, Stephan Koren’s term of office ended on September 7, 2023, and
Brigitte Unger left the General Council on October 11, 2023. The replacements were put into office by decision of the federal government on October 11, 2023: Harald Mahrer was re-appointed President of the General Council; Ingrid Reischl was appointed Vice President; and Silvia Angelo, Leonhard Dobusch and Stefan Pichler were appointed as General Council members. Stephan Koren’s term of office was extended. The terms of office started on October 11, 2023, and are for five years.
Members of the OeNB’s General Council
December 31, 2023
Harald Mahrer
President
First nominated: 2018
Term of office:
October 11,2023, to
October 10, 2028
Ingrid Reischl
Vice President
Term of office:
October 11, 2023, to
October 10, 2028
Silvia Angelo
Board Member of
ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG
Term of office:
October 11,2023, to
October 10, 2028
Leonhard Dobusch
Professor for Business Administration, University Innsbruck
Term of office:
October 11,2023, to
October 10, 2028
Erwin Hameseder
President, Raiffeisen-Holding Niederösterreich-Wien Gen.m.b.H.
Term of offic:
March 6, 2020, to
March 5, 2025
Christian Helmenstein
Chief economist,
Industriellenvereinigung
Term of office:
March 1, 2023, to
February 29, 2028
Stephan Koren
CEO, Wüstenrot Wohnungswirtschaft reg. Gen.m.b.H.
First nominated: 2018
Term of office:
October 11, 2023, to
October 10, 2028
Stefan Pichler
Department head, Institute for Finance, Banking and Insurance, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Term of office:
October 11, 2023, to
October 10, 2028
Susanne Riess-Hahn
Director General, Bausparkasse Wüstenrot AG
Term of office:
March 6, 2020, to
March 5, 2025
Sigrid Stagl
Economist, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Term of office:
March 1, 2023, to
February 29, 2028
State Commissioner
Harald Waiglein
Director General,
Directorate General Economic Policy and Financial Markets, Federal Ministry of Finance
First nominated: 2012
Term of office:
July 1, 2022, to
June 30, 2027
Deputy State Commissioner
Alfred Lejsek
Head,
Directorate Financial Markets, Federal Ministry of Finance
First nominated: 2006
Term of office:
April 1, 2022, to
March 31, 2027
The following representatives of the Central Staff Council participated in discussions on personnel, social and welfare matters (Article 22 paragraph 5 Nationalbank Act):
Birgit Sauerzopf
Chair,
Central Staff Council
Christian Schrödinger
Deputy Chair,
Central Staff Council
The OeNB’s Governing Board
The Governing Board is responsible for the overall running of the OeNB and for conducting the business of the OeNB. In pursuing the objectives and tasks of the ESCB, the Governing Board acts in accordance with the guidelines and instructions of the ECB.
The Governing Board consists of the OeNB’s Governor and Vice Governor and two other members, all of whom are appointed by the Federal President acting on a proposal from the federal government. The Governor of the OeNB is a member of the Governing Council of the ECB and of the General Council of the ECB. In performing these functions, the Governor and his deputy are not bound either by the decisions of the OeNB’s Governing Board or by those of the OeNB’s General Council, nor are they subject to any other instructions. See www.oenb.at for additional information about the OeNB’s Governing Board.
From left to right: Executive Director Thomas Steiner, Vice Governor Gottfried Haber,
Governor Robert Holzmann, Executive Director Eduard Schock
The OeNB’s organization
