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The OeNB as a Competent Partner in<br />
Ensuring Financial Stability<br />
Payment systems<br />
oversight supports<br />
stable infrastructure<br />
Major Loans Register<br />
enhances financial<br />
sector stability<br />
Integration of MLR<br />
data in current risk<br />
monitoring systems<br />
quiring supervisory attentionÓ and<br />
Òinstitutions with no material supervisory<br />
concernsÓ) will help integrate<br />
the new models in the existing analysis<br />
environment. For further details,<br />
see the publications New quantitative<br />
models of banking supervision and Die<br />
Analyselandschaft der o‹sterreichischen<br />
Bankenaufsicht. 6<br />
The Major Loans Register (MLR),<br />
which is maintained by the OeNB pursuant<br />
to Article 75 of the Austrian<br />
Banking Act and in which monthly<br />
data about loans above the reporting<br />
threshold of EUR 350,000 are registered,<br />
further enhanced its role in<br />
banking sector stability. The number<br />
of exposure inquiries submitted by reporting<br />
institutions, guarantee facilities<br />
and bank auditors increased significantly<br />
in <strong>2004</strong>, which clearly shows<br />
that the OeNBÕs MLR not only provides<br />
valuable information to these institutions<br />
prior to making a lending<br />
commitment, but that the overwhelming<br />
majority of reporting institutions<br />
continued to use MLR data<br />
during the whole life of the respective<br />
loans.<br />
MLR data are also used in several<br />
early-warning models in the field of<br />
banking supervision.<br />
In particular, the availability of<br />
data on the creditworthiness of borrowers<br />
from January 2003 onward<br />
has made off-site analyses more cost<br />
efficient. An extended version of<br />
the MLR, which will be worked out<br />
in close cooperation with banks, will<br />
also take account of Basel II reporting<br />
requirements. As cooperation between<br />
European credit registers is increasing,<br />
it will become possible to<br />
harmonize and extend the coverage<br />
and analysis of credit risk data.<br />
Pursuant to Article 44a of the<br />
Federal Act on the Oesterreichische<br />
Nationalbank, the OeNB is entrusted<br />
with payment systems oversight. In<br />
accordance with this mandate, the<br />
OeNB monitors the systemic safety<br />
of multilateral payment systems operating<br />
in Austria as well as Austrian<br />
banksÕ secure participation in international<br />
payment systems. The<br />
OeNB performs the related inspections<br />
according to specific guidelines.<br />
7 Inspections focus on the measures<br />
payment system providers take<br />
to ensure the legal, financial, organizational<br />
and technical safety of payment<br />
systems.<br />
The Secure Information Technology<br />
Center — Austria (A-SIT) regularly<br />
supports the OeNB in its inspection<br />
activities by providing assistance<br />
on oversight issues in connection<br />
with organizational and technical system<br />
stability. In its notification of January<br />
6, 2005, the Austrian Federal<br />
Ministry of Economics and Labour<br />
recognized A-SIT retroactively as of<br />
October 25, <strong>2004</strong>, as a supervisory<br />
body under the Austrian Accreditation<br />
Act (Akkreditierungsgesetz). 8<br />
Accredited payment system operators<br />
benefit from this recognition,<br />
since the inspection reports provided<br />
by A-SIT are now recognized as official<br />
certificates of systemic safety<br />
and as such can be used to communicate<br />
compliance with systemic safety<br />
provisions to the public.<br />
Payment systems statistics were<br />
implemented as another important<br />
instrument of payment systems over-<br />
6 See www.oenb.at or www.fma.gv.at. An English version of the second text is forthcoming.<br />
7 See www.oenb.at. Some documents are currently available in German only.<br />
8 The accreditation unit of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour is a member of the European<br />
Co-operation for Accreditation (EA). It concluded an agreement on the mutual recognition of accreditations by<br />
the other members (i.e. the national accreditation units of the EU and EFTA Member States).<br />
44 ×<br />
<strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2004</strong>