Opinion of the European Central Bank of 2 September 2015 on reporting of certain data relevant for financial stability (CON/2015/30)
Date: 2015-09-02
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Austria, central bank, data collection, financial risk, financial stability, national law, statistics

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 2 September 2015 

on reporting of certain data relevant for financial stability  

(CON/2015/30) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  29  July  2015  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Oesterreichische 

Nationalbank  (‘OeNB’)  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  regulation  on  the  reporting  of  credit  risk,  country  risk, 

residual maturities, foreign currency loans and financial information concerning fully consolidated foreign 
subsidiaries of banks (the ‘draft regulation’)1.  

The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 

Functioning  of  the  European  Union  and  the  third,  fourth  and  sixth  indents  of  Article  2(1)  of  Council 
Decision  98/415/EC2,  as  the  draft  regulation  relates  to  the  OeNB,  the  collection,  compilation  and 

distribution  of  monetary,  financial,  banking,  payment  systems  and  balance  of  payments  statistics,  and 

rules  applicable  to  financial  institutions  insofar  as  they  materially  influence  the  stability  of  financial 

institutions and markets. In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of 

the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion. 

1. 

Purpose of the draft regulation 

1.1  Article  44b(1)  of  the  Law  on  Oesterreichische  Nationalbank  (hereinafter  the  ‘Law  on  the  OeNB’) 

requires the OeNB to monitor, in the public interest, all circumstances that may have an impact on 

safeguarding  financial  stability  in  Austria.  Based  on  a  current  reporting  regulation  of  the  Austrian 

Financial  Market  Authority  (FMA)  on  asset,  income  and  risk  statements  of  credit  institutions,  the 

FMA makes available the data necessary for the OeNB to fulfil this task. If this data is not available 

to the FMA, the OeNB may collect it directly from the relevant credit institutions.  

1.2  Currently, the data regarding credit risk, country risk, residual maturities and foreign currency loans 

and financial information concerning fully consolidated foreign subsidiaries of banks is covered by 
the  FMA’s  reporting  regulation  on  asset,  income  and  risk  statements  (hereinafter  the  ‘VERA-V’)3. 

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2  

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Meldeverordnung FinStab 1/2015 der OeNB betreffend die Erfassung von Kredit- und Länderrisiken, Restlaufzeiten 
und Fremdwährungskredite sowie Finanzinformationen von Auslandstochterbanken (FinStab 1/2015). 
Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authori-
ties regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 

Verordnung  der  Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde  (FMA)  zum  Vermögens-,  Erfolgs-  und  Risikoausweis  (Vermögens-, 
Erfolgs- und Risikoausweis-Verordnung – VERA-V). 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

Following  a  forthcoming  2015  amendment  to  that  regulation,  the  abovementioned  data  will  no 

longer be required under the VERA-V. The last reporting dates for this data pursuant to the VERA-

V  will  be  30  September  2015  for  credit  risk  and  30  June  2016  for  data  on  residual  maturities, 

foreign  currency  loans  and  credit  risks.  In  light  of  their  significance  for  safeguarding  financial 

stability in Austria, the OeNB intends to collect this data  based on the draft regulation. Under the 

draft regulation, reporting is intended to start in the first quarter after the reporting obligations under 

the VERA-V expire. From then on, the data must be reported on a quarterly basis. 

1.3 

Likewise,  financial  information  on  all  fully  consolidated  foreign  subsidiaries  of  groups  of  credit 
institutions  required  to  report  in  Austria4  is  also  of  particular  relevance  for  safeguarding  financial 

stability  in  Austria.  For  this  reason,  the  draft  regulation  requires  the  submission  of  additional 

financial  information  concerning  those  foreign  subsidiaries.  Article  9(3)  of  the  draft  regulation 

provides  that  no  reporting  is  required  from  credit  institutions  in  respect  of  data  covered  under 

reporting  obligations  laid  down  in  Regulation  (EU)  2015/534  of  the  European  Central  Bank 
(ECB/2015/13)5.  Accordingly,  the  draft  regulation  only  affects  data  not  already  collected  under 

Regulation (EU) 2015/534 (ECB/2015/13).  

2. 

General observations 

The draft regulation extends the application  of statistical data collection  powers already available to the 

OeNB under the Law on the OeNB to an area currently not harmonised through a Union legal act in the 

field of statistics. The OeNB has a statutory obligation to monitor, in the public interest, all circumstances 

that may have an impact on safeguarding financial stability in Austria. In this context, the ECB points to its 
Decision  ECB/2014/66,  which  establishes  measures  aimed  at  the  gradual  development  of  the  ECB’s 

statistical  framework  in  relation  to  the  credit  exposures  of  credit  institutions,  or  other  loan-providing 

financial  institutions,  vis-à-vis  borrowers.  This  framework  will,  inter  alia,  support  the  activities  of  the 

European  System  of  Central  Banks  in  the  area  of  financial  stability.  The  ECB  invites  the  Austrian 

authorities to monitor the development of this ECB statistical framework, which may interact with the  

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5  

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https://www.oenb.at/en/Statistics/Standardized-Tables/Financial-Institutions/Banks/financial-and-income-

See 
statement-of-fully-consolidated-foreign-subsidiaries.html. 
Regulation  (EU)  2015/534  of  the  European  Central  Bank  of  17  March  2015  on  reporting  of  supervisory  financial 
information (ECB/2015/13) (OJ L 86, 31.3.2015, p. 13). 

Decision ECB/2014/6 of 24 February 2014 on the organisation of preparatory measures for the collection of granular 
credit data by the European System of Central Banks (OJ L 104, 8.4.2014, p. 72). 

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ECB-PUBLIC 

objectives of the draft regulation7. 

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 2 September 2015. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

7  

See Opinion CON/2014/23. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 

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