Vienna International Company News

Read the latest headlines about developments in international organizations, companies and institutions operating in Vienna, Austria

Life Insurance Industry Under Pressure

For the insurance industry, life insurance products become less and less profitable.

October 24, 2013

“We Need to Pull Down the Iron Curtain in Our Heads“

In an interview with Austrian daily “WirtschaftsBlatt“ Johannes Seiringer, Director of the Austrian office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) calls for incentives for enterprises to continue investing in CEE.

October 24, 2013

RBI Discussing New Ways of Global Banking Regulations

RBI welcomes global finance at the ICC Banking Commission Meeting 2013.

October 24, 2013

Czech Republic: Four Banks too Big to Fail

CNB has determined four domestic banks that could potentially endanger the country’s financial system in case of bankruptcy, as reported by daily “Hospodarske noviny” (HN).

October 24, 2013

Serbia: Komercijalna Banka Supported by EFSE

Serbian Komercijalna Banka received a credit line of € 20m from the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE).

October 24, 2013

ECB: “Uniform Assessment for Banks Important Step for Europe”

Assessment of ECB is an important step in the preparation of the single supervisory mechanism.

October 24, 2013

Polish Holding to Take over Romanian International Bank

According to Mediafax newswire, Polish Getin Holding will take over Romanian International Bank (RIB).

October 24, 2013

Stress Tests: Austrian Banks Demonstrate Optimism

Austrian banks are expected to pass the stress tests. However, the next years are expected to become challenging for the Austrian banking sector.

October 23, 2013

Czech Republic: Singer Nominated Central Bank Govenor of the Year

Miroslav Singer, govenor of the Czech National Bank (CNB) won the Central Bank Govenor of the Year for Emerging Europe 2013 presented by Emerging Markets Magazine.

October 23, 2013

Poland Intends to Keep Banking Sector Small

The Polish financial regulator intends to keep the frequency of bank shops low and avoid risks and bailout by this.

October 23, 2013

Romania Plans Next Privatization

According to the Romanian government, Romtelecom may be partly privatized via the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

October 23, 2013

Slovenia: Govenor of National Bank demands “Change of Mentality”

At a lecture planned by the Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), Bostjan Jazbec, govenor of Banka Slovenije, pointed out that the country could only blame itself for the current state it was in.

October 23, 2013

Austrian Banks Expected to Pass Auditing

According to the financial supervisors, the Austrian banks are likely to pass the ECB’s (European Central Bank) auditing since there are no significant adjustment requirements.

October 23, 2013

Austria: Saving Grows Decently

At the end of June, total savings reached € 490bn. In real terms, total savings shrink. Lending remains stable.

October 22, 2013

Bank Austria Issues € 500m Bond

Bank Austria, part of Italian major bank UniCredit and in charge of CESEE business, is raising money from the capital market.

October 22, 2013

House Searches at Strabag Subsidiary in Croatia

The corruption scandal at the Croatian Chamber of Economy affects public road authority HAC and construction companies that were commissioned, among them Austrian Strabag and Alpine.

October 22, 2013

Amazon to Open Distribution Centers in the Czech Republic

The world’s largest online retailer Amazon plans to create 10,000 jobs in the Czech Republic within the next three years.

October 22, 2013

Slovenia: Banka Sparkasse Provided with Loan by EIB

EIB continues to support SME and mid-cap projects in Slovenia.

October 22, 2013

Bill Gates Becomes Second-Largest Shareholder in FCC

Spanish construction company and parent company of Austrian Alpine has a new shareholder: Founder of Microsoft Bill Gates has aquired a participation of around six percent.

October 22, 2013

Austria: Bank Aids Burden State Budget

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, Austria has lost billions of Euros.

October 22, 2013

Uniqa to Aquire Western Balkan Insurance Companies

Listed insurance company Uniqa will take over Croatian and Serbian affiliates of Swiss insurance group Baloise (Basler) to strengthen its market position in the Western Balkan states.

October 22, 2013

German Rail Manufacturing Plant of Voestalpine to be Closed

At the end of October voestalpine will shut down its rail manufacturing plant TSTG Schienen Technik GmbH & Co KG in Duisburg, Germany.

October 21, 2013

Hypo Group Reigned by Greed and Criminal Activities

In an interview with Austrian daily “Standard“ forensic expert of nationlized Hypo Group Christian Böhler revealed that former managers of the bank enriched themselves personally.

October 21, 2013

Slovakia: New Burden for Insurance Industry

The Slovak government extends special taxes for companies operating regulated sectors. The bank tax will be abolished in the course of the next years.

October 21, 2013

Prague: Strong Foreign Demand for Real Estate

About a third of the buyers of Prague-based apartments are foreigners. Most buyers are Slovaks or Vietnamese.

October 21, 2013

Bulgaria: FDI Inflow Shrinks Drastically

In the first eight months of 2013, foreign direct investments fell by more than 51%. Without impulses from foreign investors, the country will not return to growth.

October 21, 2013

Romanian Romgaz Starts IPO

Tomorrow, Monday, the Romanian government sells a 15% stake in Romgaz via the stock exchange. In the last months, the IMF has urged Romania to accelerate the privatization policy.

October 21, 2013

Conwert Changes Strategy

The Vienna-listed real estate group will strengthen its portfolio in Germany. Moreover, conwert faces a change in leadership.

October 20, 2013

Polish Real Estate: Prices on the Fall

In the last twelve months, the price of Polish apartments has fallen moderately.

October 20, 2013

Croatia: EU-Membership Did Not Help Yet

In the first months of its EU membership, the situation in Croatia´s industrial sector deteriorated further.

October 19, 2013

“Problems in the CESEE Region Are Mainly Fundamental”

In an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, Reza Moghadam, director of the IMF´s European Department, says that the weakness of the CESEE region is not only cyclical.

October 18, 2013

Immofinanz: Zehetner Quits in 2014

The Austrian real estate group faces a change in leadership.

October 18, 2013

Telekom Austria: No Need for Capital Increase

Against all rumors, Telekom Austria is doing just fine. As reported by “Handelsblatt” insiders claim that a capital increase, which was speculated on, is currently not an issue.

October 18, 2013

Nowotny Demands Same Rules for All Banks

Govenor Nowotny urges for a discussion about the capital requirements (Basel III) for banks, which applies only for the major banking institutes in the US but for all banks in Europe.

October 18, 2013

RBI Considers Participation in Hypo Group’s Bad Bank

In a radio interview with “Ö1”, Karl Sevelda, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), announced that he regards a particpation of his bank as possible.

October 18, 2013

OMV: Weakest Refining Margin Since 2009

Compared to the same period in 2012, the whole production of Austrian oil company OMV has decreased in the third quarter as well as compared to the previous quarter.

October 18, 2013

IMF Warns of Financial Instability in CESEE

Due to the high non-performing loan quota and the deleveraging of Western banks, the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe are still far from financial stability.

October 18, 2013

Mitterlehner: “2014 Will Become Significantly Better“

Austrian Minister for Economy Reinhold Mitterlehner considers the Austrian economy to be in a spirit of optimism as an upturn in Europe has become evident. According to him, 2014 is supposed to become “significantly better” than 2013.

October 17, 2013

Austria: RBI Expects Stabilization

Business in CEE seems to be in an up again. RBI is preparing for an IPO at the Warsaw stock exchange.

October 17, 2013

Austria: Voestalpine Expects Same Results as 2012

CEO Wolfgang Eder expects the same level in profits as last year.

October 17, 2013

Romania: Privatization of Railroad Company Flopped

The privatization of Romanian freight railroad company CFR Marfa failed. The sale of shares is part of the conditions with IMF, the World Bank and the European Union.

October 17, 2013

Austria: New Fiscal Difficulties

Austria´s state budget 2014 is not resolved yet. Moreover, a number of assumptions are highly uncertain.

October 17, 2013

Eurozone: Banking Union Approved

From autumn 2014 on, the European Central Bank (ECB) will directly supervise 130 major banks within the Eurozone.

October 16, 2013

Poland to Improve Railway Infrastructure

According to CIR, the Polish government’s press center, the government plans on spending PLN 979m on railway infrastructure in 2014 and a further amount of PLN 692m in 2015.

October 16, 2013

Austria: Alpine Bankruptcy Caused Further Enterprises to Go Bust

Alpine’s bankruptcy has caused thirteen enterprises to slip into insolvency so far. Half of the companies are currently fighting for continuation, according to credit protection agency KSV 1870.

October 16, 2013

Austria: Decisions about Hypo Group Expected This Year

Decisions about the future of problem bank Hypo Alpe Adria will in all likelihood be delayed.

October 16, 2013

Bank Austria: Economic Recovering in Small Steps

The Bank Austria Business Indicator provides an overview of the current economic situation in Austria.

October 16, 2013

Bulgaria Supports Trans Adriatic Pipeline

During yesterday’s world media meeting, on behalf of his country Bulgarian President Rosen Plevniev expressed his support of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP).

October 16, 2013

Ukrainian Gas Pipeline Key Issue for EU Commission

A gas pipeline plan in the Ukraine is among the EU Commission’s key infrastructure projects.

October 16, 2013

Solution to Croatian/Hungarian Mol Issue Expected Soon

The Croatian justice has issued an international arrest warrant for the head of Hungarian oil company Mol.

October 15, 2013