In the context of secured financings, lending banks often require a pledgor to issue a sale power of attorney for the asset pledged (ie, shares, real property or other assets).

In autumn 2010 the draft of the amended Austrian Banking Act (Bankwesengesetz; BWG) announced restrictions of the variable remuneration policy of credit institutions, irrespective of general rules of civil and employment law.

The Austrian Act on Financial Collateral (Finanzsicherheiten-Gesetz; FinSG), which regulates the granting and enforcement of financial collateral arrangements between participants in the financial markets, has recently been amended with effect from 30 June 2011.

As recent developments have shown, it is highly unlikely that the EU Capital Requirements Regulation on credit institutions and investment firms, which aims to put in place a comprehensive and risk-oriented regulatory frame work through out the EU.

Certain financial holding companies and mixed financial holding companies will become subject to a new licensing requirement under the Austrian Banking Act...

A study of 1,700+ banks from 63 countries, conducted by AIM Software, the Vienna University of Economics and sponsored by Reuters, has revealed that improving data quality is regarded as a key issue for risk management - and that regulatory requirements including Basel II and Sarbanes-Oxley are driving substantial investments in IT.

The qualification and background of the shareholders of regulated financial services providers (such as credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms), their commercial and strategic aims and the quality and source of the funds available to them for acquisition or for injection into an Austrian regulated institution has always been of interest for supervisors.

On 23 November 2016, the European Commission published its proposal for a reform package intended to further strengthen the resilience of credit institutions in the EU.

Austrian law expressly recognises and protects a bank's duty of confidentiality (sometimes referred to as 'bank secrecy') with respect to information received by or relating to its customers. This duty is primarily governed by s 38(1) to (4) (scope and exceptions) and s 101 (criminal liability) of the Banking Act (BWG) and supplemented by several provisions of a procedural nature such as the Revenues Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.

Austrian law expressly recognises and protects a bank's duty of confidentiality (sometimes referred to as 'bank secrecy') with respect to information received by or relating to its customers. This duty is primarily governed by s 38(1) to (4) (scope and exceptions) and s 101 (criminal liability) of the Banking Act (BWG) and supplemented by several provisions of a procedural nature such as the Revenues Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code.

a brief overview of the public M&A market in Austria