AUSTRIA

Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics, July 2021.

The Austrian central bank is the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB-www.oenb.at).

• The OeNB is a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and operates certain activities, such as issuing currency, under the authority of the European Central Bank (ECB – www.ecb.int).

Bank supervision

• In November 2014, the ECB, via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed responsibility for supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (115 significant banking groups have been recognized to date). ‘Less significant’ banks will continue to be supervised by the national supervisory authority, i.e. the Financial Market Authority (FMA – www.fma.gv.at).

• Lifting fees are applied on payments between resident and non-resident accounts.
• Large companies are often able to negotiate a per item-based fee structure or a cap.

• Credit transfers are used by companies to pay salaries and suppliers, and to make tax and treasury payments.
• SEPA credit transfers can be settled via the CS.A, STEP2 or via correspondent banking networks. There are 468 participants in the SCT scheme.
• Austria’s Clearing Service International (CS.I) clears cross-border SEPA credit transfers via the EBA STEP2 access provided by the OeNB and via cooperative agreements with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
• High-value and urgent EUR-denominated domestic and cross-border (within the euro zone) credit transfers can be settled in real time via TARGET2-AT or ASTI.
• High-value and urgent cross-border credit transfers can also be settled with end-of-day value via the Euro Banking Association's EURO1 system.
• The European Payment Council’s SCT Inst scheme (a pan-European 24/7 instant payment scheme for SEPA credit transfers) enables the transfer of funds (the maximum threshold value is EUR 100,000) to another account in less than ten seconds. As of June 2021, there were 73 SCT Instant RT1 participants participants in Austria.
• EBA Clearing and Italy’s SIA Group have developed and implemented a pan-European platform for instant EUR payments called RT1. It is fully compliant with the SCT Insts scheme and is in line with the ISO 20022 global messaging standards for instant payments.
• EBA Clearing has launched a pan-European request to pay (R2P) infrastructure solution with the support of 27 payment service providers from 11 countries. The new 24/7 service is compatible with the SCT and SCT Inst schemes and allows payees to take the initiative to request a specific payment from the payer.
• TIPS is a pan-European service for the settlement of instant payments in central bank money. The service enables payment service providers and ACHs with access to TARGET2 to offer fund transfers 24/7, 365 days a year. TIPS is aligned with SCT Insts. It is primarily focused on EUR payments but is technically capable of settling payments denominated in other currencies.

• Direct debits (lastschrift) are used for regular payments, such as utility bills.
• SEPA direct debits can be settled on a same-day basis via the CS.A or STEP2.
• Core SDDs are offered by 461 participants and B2B SDDs by 439 participants.
• The CS.I clears cross-border SEPA direct debits.

• Card payments, particularly debit cards, are increasingly popular, especially for retail transactions. In 2020 approximately 885.6 million debit cards transactions with a total value of EUR 32.7 billion were processed.  In the same year, 218.7 million credit card transactions with a total value of EUR 14.8 billion were processed.
• There were 3.64 million credit or delayed debit cards and 10.1 million debit cards in circulation at the end of Q1 2021. Nearly 90% of all cards issued have contactless functionality.
• Maestro-branded debit cards are the most widely issued. Visa debit cards are also popular.
• Worldline processes all debit card transactions on PSA Payment Services Austria’s behalf.
• Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club-branded credit cards are available.
• All cards issued are SEPA-compliant with EMV chips.

• There were 8,915 ATMs in Austria at the end of Q1 2021.
• There were 158,407 POS terminals in Austria at the end of 2019.
• All ATMs and POS terminals are EMV-compliant.
• The PSA is responsible for the Bankomat ATM system (approximately 7,350 ATMs).

• Electronic wallet schemes are available via reloadable pre-paid cards.
• There were 1.7 million cards with an electronic wallet function in circulation at the end of 2019.
• Mobile wallet schemes, such as Google Pay and Apple Pay, are available and increasingly popular. Zoin, a mobile payment platform, enables P2P funds to be transferred using just a mobile number.

• BNP Paribas has provided trade finance activities in Austria since 2005. One dedicated Global Trade Solutions (GTS) senior trade manager and one operations officer based in the GTS hub in Frankfurt work closely with local risk approvers and the client service desk to provide a comprehensive, integrated trade finance offering to corporations headquartered in, and operating in Austria.

• The EU has trade agreements in place with over 30 countries.
• The EU is currently in free trade negotiations with a number of countries, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, Indonesia, Mercosur (the Southern Common Market), Uruguay, and the USA. The EU and the UK are discussing their future trading relationship, following the UK’s departure from the EU.

Sources: IMF, International Financial Statistics, July 2021.