Austrian Lending Restrictions Under Observation

Politics ♦ Published: January 19, 2012; 19:19 ♦ (Vindobona)

The plan of the Austrian FMA and OeNB to restrict lending in CEE countries could be a violation of EU-law.

Austrian Lending Restrictions Under Observation / Picture: © Vindobona.org

Austrian banks are between the devil and the deep blue sea. On the one hand, the EU-Commission fears a credit crunch in Eastern Europe. As a result, operations in the CEE region should be maintained, the “Vienna Intiative” could experience a revival. On the other hand, the European Banking Authority (EBA), claims an increase of the tier-1 capital quota to 9.0% by June 2012. In order…