Annual Report 2004

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