Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) (german: Österreichische Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde) is the integrated financial regulatory authority for the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n financial industry. It is responsible for the supervision of

credit institutions A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

, payment institutions,

insurance companies Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

pension funds A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income. Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and priva ...

Fund managers Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...

, licensed securities service providers,

rating agencies A credit rating agency (CRA, also called a ratings service) is a company that assigns credit ratings, which rate a debtor's ability to pay back debt by making timely principal and interest payments and the likelihood of default. An agency may ra ...

and

stock exchanges A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for the i ...

. The FMA is an independent authority within the framework of the Financial Market Authority Act (FMABG) which means that it is not bound by any political directives in the exercise of its office. However, the

Ministry of Finance (Austria) The Ministry of Finance (german: Bundesministerium für Finanzen) is the government ministry of Austria responsible for the collection of taxes and customs as well as the administration of fiscal and economic policy. It oversees the Revenue Ser ...

has the right to consent to individual FMA regulations. In addition, with Austria being a member of the European Union, the FMA works closely with European supervisory authorities including the

European Banking Authority The European Banking Authority (EBA) is a regulatory agency of the European Union headquartered in Paris. Its activities include conducting stress tests on European banks to increase transparency in the European financial system and identifying ...

(EBA),

European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) is a European Union financial regulatory institution that replaced the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS). It is established under EU Re ...

(EIOPA) and

European Securities and Markets Authority The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is an independent European Union Authority located in Paris. ESMA replaced the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on 1 January 2011. It is one of the three new European Supe ...

(ESMA).

History

The origin of the FMA dates back to 1880. At that time, the Assecuranz-Bureau was set up under Emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the Grand title of the Emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg m ...

due to the steadily increasing distrust of the Ministry of the Interior to supervise the booming insurance industry. The tasks were defined in the founding acts as follows: Insurance regulations have become more stringent over the years, but it was not until 1978 that the Federal Act on the Operation and Supervision of Contract Insurance re-regulated supervision. The entire insurance industry was liberalized by joining the EEA and later the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Accordingly, the supervision was adjusted. On April 1, 2002, the FMA was created as an integrated regulator for all financial markets and began operations as an independent authority within the framework of the Financial Market Authority Act (FMABG). This law was passed in the summer of 2001 after lengthy political discussions about the establishment of an integrated financial supervision system. The FMA was established as an institution under public law with its own legal personality, and it was entrusted with the supervision of banks, insurance companies, pension funds and the entire securities sector.

Tasks

The tasks of the FMA regarding the supervision of the Austrian financial market are divided into five main areas: *Banking supervision (in cooperation with the

Oesterreichische Nationalbank The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) is the central bank of Austria and, as such, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurozone. It started operations on , replacing the Austro-Hungarian Bank of whic ...

) *Insurance supervision *Pension fund supervision *Securities Supervision *Payment processing

Consumer protection

The FMA is not a consumer protection organization in the traditional sense, in that can help complainants in enforcing any claims for damages or claims against a supervised company. As a supervisor, it must maintain objectivity towards all supervised entities and their clients. Damaged consumers must in principle sue for any claims for damages in civil courts. However, information and complaints from consumers, investors or creditors against market participants are an important source of information for supervisory activities. The FMA investigates every customer complaint and checks whether it is based on systemic errors. The FMA's complaint management and consumer hotline therefore provide information about the legal options and ensure that all information is checked with regard to relevant undesirable developments or possible violations of supervisory standards. Since a complainant does not have party status in an administrative procedure, the FMA does not provide any information on the progress and outcome of the proceedings because of their obligation to maintain privacy. However, if the complainant also sues under civil law, the court can inspect the files by way of administrative assistance. Complaints about supervised companies can be submitted using a complaint form on the FMA website. Since January 2014, it has also been possible to report abuses or violations of supervisory law in a company that is subject to FMA supervision anonymously via a

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

process.

International cooperation

The FMA is a member of various international bodies, such as: International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS),

International Organization of Securities Commissions The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations that regulate the world's securities and futures markets. Members are typically primary securities and/or futures regulators in a national jurisdic ...

(IOSCO) and

Committee of European Securities Regulators The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) was an independent committee of European Securities regulators in the Lamfalussy process established by the European Commission on June 6, 2001. The role of this committee was to * Improve th ...

(CESR). On November 4, 2014, the European Central Bank assumed direct and indirect supervision for all banks in the euro area. The ECB has shared its supervisory responsibility with the national banking supervisory authorities in accordance with the requirements of the European legislator in the so-called Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). For banks that are subject to the direct supervision of the ECB in the "Single European Supervisory Mechanism" (SSM), a separate resolution authority was created at European level ("Single Resolution Mechanism - SRM"). As the national resolution authority for Austria, the FMA is part of the SRM.

Board of Directors

Helmut Ettl has been a board member of the FMA since 2008, and Klaus Kumpfmüller became a board member in 2013. After Kumpfmüller was appointed by the supervisory board as the successor to Andreas Mitterlehner, who died in November 2019, as chairman of the Board of ''HYPO Oberösterreich'', it became known that Eduard Müller, a former Austrian finance minister was appointed to the Board of Management on an interim basis. In May 2020, Müller's appointment as a board member of the FMA was confirmed by the

Council of Ministers A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

References