Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Glossary<br />
ARTIS: Austrian Real Time Interbank Settlement. The real-time gross<br />
settlement (RTGS) system for euro payments developed and operated by<br />
the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) that forms the Austrian component<br />
of the EU-wide large-value euro payment system TARGET run by the<br />
European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Since January 4, 1999, ARTIS<br />
users have been able to channel intra-EU payments through a single account<br />
at the OeNB.<br />
BIC: Bank Identifier Code. Eight-digit code devised by SWIFT, the international<br />
messaging system for cross-border payments, that unambiguously<br />
identifies participants of payment systems. It is composed of the following<br />
three subcodes: (1) the bank code (first 4 digits), (2) the country code (next<br />
2 digits), and (3) the location code (last 2 digits). NABAATWW is, for<br />
instance, the BIC of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.<br />
Budget balance: general government net lending/net borrowing, i.e. the<br />
balancing item of the financial account as defined in ESA 1995 (the European<br />
System of Accounts), which represents either a financial surplus (net lending)<br />
or a financial deficit (net borrowing). AustriaÕs general government sector<br />
comprises the central government (including various nonprofit organizations),<br />
state government and local government as well as social security funds. The<br />
budget balance may be broken down into a cyclical component and a structural,<br />
cyclically adjusted component.<br />
Capital adequacy: the minimum amount of own funds that banks must<br />
hold relative to their assets to cover their exposure to risk. The capital<br />
adequacy framework (Basel I, Basel II) of the Basel Committee on Banking<br />
Supervision (BCBS) prescribes a capital ratio of 8%.<br />
Clearing: the process of reconciling and netting payment orders in a net<br />
settlement system.<br />
Confidence indicator: also referred to as sentiment indicator. Measure<br />
reflecting businessesÕ or the publicÕs assessment of the economic situation,<br />
which serves to e.g. identify cyclical turning points at an early stage.<br />
Convergence criteria: five requirements that are laid down in the<br />
Maastricht Treaty and that an EU Member State must fulfill to qualify for participation<br />
in Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), i.e. for<br />
the introduction of the euro: (1) an inflation rate not more than 1.5 percentage<br />
points above that of the three best-performing Member States in terms of<br />
price stability, (2) a long-term interest rate not more than 2 percentage points<br />
above that of the three best-performing Member States, (3) a government<br />
deficit which does not exceed 3% of GDP, (4) a ratio of public debt to<br />
GDP which does not exceed 60%, unless the ratio is sufficiently diminishing<br />
and approaching the reference value at a satisfactory pace, and (5) currency<br />
variations within the normal fluctuation margins of the Exchange Rate<br />
Mechanism II (ERM II) for at least two years and no devaluation against the<br />
currency of any other Member State.<br />
124 ×<br />
<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2004</strong>