Macroprudential supervision

Macroprudential supervision is the forward-looking analysis and identification of risks to the stability of the financial system. In Austria, macroprudential supervision was institutionalized in 2014 with the establishment of the Financial Market Stability Board (FMSB).

The FMSB seeks to strengthen cooperation in the field of macroprudential supervision and to promote financial market stability. The key task of the FMSB is to address risks to financial stability, as identified by the OeNB in the course of its monitoring activities, in a transparent process. To this end, the FMSB supports the Financial Market Authority (FMA) by issuing recommendations for further action and risk warnings, using the instruments proposed by the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).

From an institutional perspective, the FMSB links up the OeNB’s‎ macroprudential monitoring function with the FMA’s supervisory function based on the regulatory framework defined by the Ministry of Finance.

By integrating also members of the Fiscal Advisory Council, the FMSB moreover ensures adequate consideration of the general economic conditions and due regard of the goal of sustainable public finances.

Under Article 44c of the Nationalbank Act, the OeNB is tasked, among other things, with analyzing macroprudential risks and developing draft FMSB recommendations and risk warnings. Moreover, the OeNB provides the FMSB secretariat.

The FMSB convenes at least four times a year and may be convened more often on an ad hoc basis. Its inaugural meeting took place in September 2014.

The FMSB consists of two representatives each of the Ministry of Finance and the Fiscal Advisory Council as well as one OeNB representative as well as one FMA representative. The FMSB is chaired by high-level representatives of the Ministry of Finance.