Austrian Securities Market and Stock Exchange News and Analysis

Austria Raises a Further 1.5 Billion Euros via Federal Bonds

The Republic of Austria has successfully placed federal bonds with a total value of 1.5 billion euros on the capital market. According to the Federal Financing Agency (OeBFA), demand for the securities was once again high - a sign of continued confidence in the Republic's creditworthiness.

May 6, 2025

Russian Court of Appeal Confirms Billion-Dollar Fine Against Raiffeisen Subsidiary

A Russian appeals court in St. Petersburg has confirmed the decision of a court of first instance, according to which the Russian subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), AO Raiffeisenbank, must pay over two billion euros to the Cypriot company Rasperia Trading Limited. However, this could also mean two exemptions at the same time - and one of them in Austria.

April 24, 2025

ECB Cuts Key Interest Rate Again: Vienna Stock Exchange Reacts Cautiously

The European Central Bank (ECB) cut its key interest rate again, for the seventh time since June 2024. The deposit rate, a key reference value for banks and savers, was lowered by 0.25 percentage points to 2.25 percent. The measure had been expected, but its frequency and the tone of the ECB's communication make it clear that the situation is serious.

April 17, 2025

Austrian Securities Ownership Reaches New Heights

A recent survey reveals a significant increase in the number of Austrians investing in securities, highlighting a shift towards private pension planning amid economic challenges.

April 9, 2025

Chancellor and Foreign Minister Schallenberg Met with "Friends of the Western Balkans" Group and Prime Minister Meloni in Rome

Austrian Chancellor and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg reaffirmed Austria's commitment to regional stability and European unity during meetings in Rome. Engaging with both the "Friends of the Western Balkans" group and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Schallenberg emphasized the strategic importance of EU enlargement and the necessity of fostering robust bilateral relations with key European partners.

February 10, 2025

Austria's Initial Federal Deficit for 2024 Better Than Expected

Austria's federal deficit for 2024 ended up being 1.7 billion euros lower than initially forecast, standing at 19.1 billion euros. This positive outcome comes despite economic challenges, with lower-than-expected government spending helping offset revenue shortfalls.

February 9, 2025

Increase in Business Insolvencies in Austria Amid Economic Challenges

Austria's business landscape saw a challenging year in 2024, with a significant increase in corporate insolvencies driven by economic factors such as rising inflation, recession, and the end of pandemic-related support. While businesses struggled, a notable rise in new company formations offered a mixed picture.

February 9, 2025

Russian Court Decision Complicates Raiffeisen Bank International Planned Sale of Subsidiary Bank

The planned exit of Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) from Russia has suffered a significant setback. A Russian court has issued a temporary injunction blocking the sale of the Russian subsidiary AO Raiffeisenbank. This decision could significantly delay the Austrian bank's efforts to reduce its presence in Russia.

September 5, 2024

Austria Businesses Heading for a Record Year of Bankruptcies in 2024

Austria is facing a possible record year for corporate insolvencies in 2024. The current economic situation shows a significant increase in insolvencies, especially in the first half of the year.

July 15, 2024

Austria's Best Tax Consultants Were Awarded

The Institute for Investment Consulting (IFA AG) and the daily newspaper "Die Presse" presented the coveted "Tax Consultant of the Year" award to the best tax consultants in Austria. The festive award ceremony took place in the Sofiensälen in Vienna and was accompanied by Federal Minister of Finance Dr. Magnus Brunner as keynote speaker. More than 16,000 nominations demonstrate appreciation for both the industry and the award.

May 25, 2023

Combating Human Trafficking and Money Laundering Discussions Occurred at the Ministry of Finance

The Austrian Ministry of Finance invited several experts on the human trafficking and money laundering issue. They discussed possible solutions to these problems and the ministry's help in it.

February 12, 2023

Aging Population Might Cause Debt Problems in the Future for Austria

The Austrian Ministry of Finance published a budget prognosis for the upcoming 30 to 40 years. The financial future looks bleak in Austria. More specifically, the level of debt will be rising in the next years due to an aging population.

January 5, 2023

Austrian Government Reviews the Year 2022

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler made a review and concluded the year 2022 with a positive and determined outlook for the following year. The subjects of the past year were the recovery from the pandemic, the energy crisis, inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

December 25, 2022

Crisis Around Viennese Energy Supply Company "Wien Energie"

Austria's largest energy supplier urgently needs money to hedge forward transactions. Otherwise, the company would have to realize huge losses.

August 30, 2022

Austria's Raiffeisen Bank Now Considering Russia and Ukraine Exit After All

Raiffeisen Bank International is considering withdrawing from Russia. The enormous civil suffering in Ukraine caused by Russia's war of aggression had led the management to this decision. This step is not taken easy, since Russia counts as one of the key areas of the Austrian bank.

March 18, 2022

Putin's War Forces OMV to Make Most Fundamental Strategic Shift in Its History

Russia's aggression toward Ukraine is forcing OMV, the Austrian oil, gas and petrochemical group to take drastic measures. The company's management decided to stop all investment activities in Russia and to rely on alternative suppliers in the future. OMV thus joins many other companies that are slowly turning their backs on the Russian market.

March 17, 2022

Asset Management: Impact of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on Stock Markets

By invading Ukraine, Russia has created a humanitarian crisis. At a time when heart-wrenching news footage reminds us daily that innocent people are losing their lives, discussing the market implications of such devastation can feel unseemly. The most important thing investors can do during a crisis is to simply not panic. Stock market history supports this assertion. The author examined the major geopolitical events since World War II and found that on average the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 16.40% higher 1 year later and 32.7% higher 2 years later.

March 8, 2022

Russo-Ukrainian War: First Effects of Western Sanctions on Russian Economy

The Russian economy is already beginning to feel the effects of the Western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine. Read what effects the sanctions are having on the economy.

February 28, 2022

TTTech Auto Becomes USD-Unicorn in Automotive Technology

By raising an additional EUR 250 million from Aptiv and EUR 50 million from Audi in its latest funding round, TTTech Auto will be enabled to expand its product portfolio for automotive manufacturers and technology partners, to expand internationally in key regions and to extend its capabilities through strategic M&A and product investments.

February 10, 2022

Gernot Blümel Now Working for Superfund Co-Founder Christian Baha

Former Austrian finance minister to become CEO of Superfund from March 2022 and is expected to push the asset manager's expansion.

January 12, 2022

Wealth Management: Schelhammer Capital Bank Becomes Austria's Leading Private Bank

Bankhaus Schelhammer & Schattera AG and Capital Bank - GRAWE Gruppe AG have merged to form Schelhammer Capital, the strongest private bank in Austria. Read more about the newly created bank and what Chairman of the Board Christian Jauk said about the merger.

October 4, 2021

The 250th Anniversary of the Vienna Stock Exchange

The Vienna Stock Exchange recently celebrated its 250th anniversary since it was founded by Maria Theresa. Minister of Finance Gernot Blümel congratulated the stock exchange on its anniversary and advocated for the implementation of a government program and retention periods to incentivize Austrians to invest in the domestic economy. Minister Blümel and Vienna Stock Exchange CEO Christoph Boschan both advocated for educating the public on financial topics. Read more about the Vienna Stock Exchange and what the pair said on its anniversary.

September 14, 2021

Are "Green Bonds" also Coming to Austria?

At the European Forum Alpbach, Austrian Finance Minister Gernot Blümel announced that Austria wants to issue a so-called "green bond" in the first half of 2022. The Ministry of Finance and Federal Financing Agency (OeBFA) have already completed the necessary technical work to issue the bonds. Read more about "green bonds" and Austria's plans to begin issuing them.

September 1, 2021

Alfred Stern Takes Over from Rainer Seele as CEO of OMV

Effective September 1, 2021, Alfred Stern will assume the position as Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of OMV, the Austrian oil and gas group.

August 31, 2021

Vienna Stock Exchange: EVN Replaces Telekom Austria in ATX

The semi-annual review of the Austrian leading index ATX has shown a change in the composition. EVN AG will replace Telekom Austria AG. Furthermore, voestalpine AG is included in the ATX five, which comprises the five largest listed companies, instead of Raiffeisen Bank International AG.

March 3, 2021

Vienna Stock Exchange: New Calculation Technology Increases Quality

The Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Börse AG) has implemented a new index calculation technology, called "Vienna Index Engine" (VIE). The new software will allow even higher processing speed and stability for indices available on the exchange, which will also benefit more than 140 global financial institutions that rely on the indices of the stock exchange.

February 9, 2021

Vienna Stock Exchange: Herrmann Joins Boschan and Koblic on the Management Board

The Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Börse AG) has announced that its Supervisory Board has decided to appoint Andrea Herrmann as a third member of the Management Board (CFO).

February 4, 2021

EIB Group Cooperates with Hypo Vorarlberg

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has decided to support Austria's economy by unlocking part of Hypo Vorarlberg's regulatory capital. These funds will be used to invest in energy efficiency projects which are directly in line with the EIB's commitment to increasing its climate action lending.

December 1, 2020

Hahn: European Commission Is Entering Top League of Global Financial Markets

With the issuing of social bonds worth EUR 17 billion, the European Commission tries to safeguard jobs and prevent the economy from collapsing in its member countries. Commission President von der Leyen as well as Austrian EU Budget Commissioner Hahn are pleased by this important step.

October 22, 2020

Financier Ronny Pecik Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Immofinanz

Croatian-Austrian star investor and largest single investor becomes CEO of commercial real estate group Immofinanz AG.

April 23, 2020

Vienna Stock Exchange: Mayr-Melnhof and BAWAG on the Rise

BAWAG Bank, Austria's fourth-largest bank in terms of total assets, rises to become the fifth-largest listed company on the Vienna Stock Exchange. The cartonboard producer Mayr-Melnhof replaces FACC in the ATX.

March 4, 2020

Buy Local - Invest Global: How to Invest Your Money on the Vienna Stock Exchange

Expats in Austria now have access to over 680 internationally sought-after securities from 26 countries at local conditions.

October 25, 2019

Largest Austrian Listed Companies: Verbund Replaces Andritz in ATX five

The semi-annual review of the Austrian leading index ATX shows no change in the composition. However, Verbund AG is moving into the ATX five, which comprises the five largest listed companies, instead of Andritz AG from Styria, according to the Vienna Stock Exchange in a press release.

September 4, 2019

New Meinl Bank to Pay 36 Million Euro to Damaged European Land Investors

The legal successor to Meinl-Bank, AAB Anglo Austrian Bank AG, will pay around EUR 36 million to settle the claims of the remaining investor proceedings of approx. 4,000 investors of the former MEL Meinl European Land. Simultaneously, AAB starts a repositioning in which the credit business and the payment transactions are to be reduced, while the advisory business and investment banking are to be focused on.

August 27, 2019

Vienna Stock Exchange - More US Stocks on Offer

The global market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange will be expanded with listings of primarily US companies but also stocks from Europe.

April 26, 2019

Former Finance Minister Schelling to Be Appointed to OMV Supervisory Board

Former ÖVP finance minister Hans Jörg Schelling is to move into the supervisory board of the partly state-owned OMV. Various media report that this is being done at the request of senior government officials.

April 25, 2019

Organized International Cum-Ex Tax Fraud in Austria - 183 Million Euros Damage

In connection with dividend stripping, the tax fraud model "Cum-Ex" was created, which deliberately allows the multiple refund of capital gains tax paid only once. According to a report in today's Ö1-Morgenjournal, presumably mainly Arab investors, in cooperation with domestic financial advisors and banks, caused Austrian taxpayers a loss of 183 million euros.

April 9, 2019

Vienna Stock Exchange: High Dependence on UK Traders

In 2018, around 60% of the equity turnover on the Vienna Stock Exchange came from UK trading participants. Hence equity turnover declined by 16.3% compared to the previous year. The most active stocks were Erste Group, OMV and Voestalpine. The SME segment "direct market plus" started with 8 companies, including 4 new listings.

April 3, 2019

Vienna Stock Exchange - New Start for the Third Market with 8 SME Quotations

As already announced by Vindobona.org in conjunction with the corresponding amendment to the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz), the VSE Vienna Stock Exchange is now offering two additional and easier options (direct market, direct market plus) for an initial public offering for SMEs as part of the new Third Market.

January 20, 2019

Facilitated Stock Exchange Access for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises at the VSE

As a result of an amendment to the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (Aktiengesetz), as of 21 January 2019 it will again be possible for small and medium-sized enterprises and growth companies registered in Austria in the legal form of a stock corporation (AG) with small free float to gain access to the Vienna Stock Exchange via the newly created market segments "direct market plus" and "direct market".

October 19, 2018

Austrian State and Industrial Holding will be Reorganized Again

The holding company of the Austrian federal shareholdings (ÖBIB) is to be restructured and given a new boss. The existing structures created by the red-black predecessor government will soon be history again. The law for a new holding company of the Republic is to be examined in the next few days. Its boss is to be Thomas Schmid, general secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance.

October 3, 2018

Textile Manufacturer Wolford Leaves Vienna Prime Market

The textile group Wolford, listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, is moving from the Prime Market to the Standard Market.

September 6, 2018

Telekom Austria: Strategic Restructuring of Management and Supervisory Board

At Telekom Austria's Supervisory Board meeting, not only the change at the top of the company's Supervisory Board was sealed, but also the restructuring of the Management Board. Thomas Arnoldner (40), previously responsible for Sales & Services on the T-Systems Board of Management, replaces Alejandro Plater as Telekom Austria CEO. Economics lawyer Edith Hlawati takes over as Chairman of the Supervisory Board from Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer.

April 19, 2018

C-Quadrat Streamlines Corporate Group Structure

C-Quadrat plans to spin off the business operations of C-Quadrat Wealth Management GmbH (formerly: C-Quadrat Kapitalanlage AG) to ARTS Asset Management GmbH, in which the company holds a 45% stake. In return, societal profit participation rights ("sozietäre Genussrechte") will be granted to the company instead of additional company shares.

April 19, 2018

OMV: Yearly Financial Report 2017

OMV Aktiengesellschaft is declaring the following financial reports below.

April 12, 2018

Telekom Austria Prepares Expansion in the Western Balkans

Telekom Austria is strategically strengthening its search for takeover targets and has made EUR 1 billion available in the war chest. CEO Alejandro Plater has announced his intention to expand again in the Western Balkans (Serbia, Croatia and other countries of former Yugoslavia).

April 11, 2018

Austria's Capital Market for SMEs on the Brink of a Renaissance

Finance Minister Hartwig Löger plans to revive the Austrian capital market for SMEs by making trading of bearer shares of Austrian companies on the Third Market possible again.

April 11, 2018

C-Quadrat: Yearly Financial Report 2017

C-Quadrat Investment AG is declaring the following financial reports below.

April 6, 2018

FACC Achieves Sales Record of EUR 750.7 Mln in 2017/18

FACC, the Sino-Austrian aircraft component manufacturer generated preliminary sales of 750.7 million euros, and the order backlog increased to US$ 5.9 billion. On March 19, FACC entered the ATX, Austria's leading index on the Vienna Prime Market, and has since been one of the 25 largest and most traded companies in Austria.

April 4, 2018

RBI Doubles Net Profit, Pays Dividends Again and Returns to Growth Course

RBI - Raiffeisen Bank International has doubled its profit in 2017 and rewards shareholders. They have not received any dividends since 2013. The bank had to pursue a sharp austerity course, reduce international business volumes, close branches in Eastern Europe and stop dividend payments. Russia remains the most important source of income.

March 15, 2018