Press Archive 2009

"Business continued to improve for Austria's industry in December. Following the catastrophic beginning, 2009 is ending on a mildly positive note, thanks to the sustained recovery in domestic manufacturing since the summer," said Bank Austria's chief economist Stefan Bruckbauer, discussing the latest survey results of the Bank Austria Purchasing Managers' Index, which edged slightly higher to 50.8 points.

Last Wednesday Bank Austria completed the sale of HYPERION Immobilienvermietungsges.m.b.H. as planned. Following a single-stage bidding process, the company was sold by tender to SIGNA Holding of the Tyrolean real estate investor Rene Benko, which submitted the best offer.

EK Fin has acquired a minority interest in Forstinger Handel und Service GmbH. The former sole shareholder, Better Place, will retain the remaining shares.

The Holiday Euro has hardly changed at close European destinations this winter over one year earlier.

The good development of Roses Fashion Outlet Center, which opened one year ago, was one of the reasons why the Austrian operator promptly decided to increase the first project phase by around 3,000 m² of office space.

After share indices of many Western countries have increased by more than 60 per cent from the low in March, there is growing concern about how long the party on the stock exchanges is going to last. At the same time it has to be taken into consideration, however, that the currently sufficient liquidity favours investment in riskier assets.

Bank Austria customers have donated around EUR 110,000 for St. Anna Children's Cancer Research over the last 12 months (as of 1 November 2009). During a visit to the research institute today, Bank Austria's chairman of the Management Board, Willi Cernko, presented a symbolic check to the head of the institute, Professor Helmut Gadner.

The objective of the charity campaign by Bank Austria in connection with the 2009 KünstlerSparbuch savings book was to increase mobility for the young participants of the “space!lab” project. For each KünstlerSparbuch savings book opened, Bank Austria donated 50 cents.

UniCredit Group has won seven prestigious awards attributed by "The Banker", the reference magazine part of the FT Group. Those recognitions come on top of the award for the "Best investment bank in CEE" received in October, bringing the total number of awards attributed this year by The Banker to UniCredit Group to a record eight.

The recovery of the Austrian economy is continuing. The Bank Austria Business Indicator left negative territory for the first time in 13 months in November and rose to 0 (October minus 0.4).

According to an analysis just completed by UniCredit Group, the general conditions will remain positive for the stock markets into the coming year. UniCredit Group expects the Euro STOXX 50 and the ATX to reach slightly higher levels and expects that the euro will remain very strong against the US dollar. The ECB is not expected to raise its interest rates until 2011.

On December 2, Bank Austria Chairman of the Management Board Willibald Cernko inaugurated the new Bank Austria competence centre at Stephansplatz 2 opposite the cathedral.

As expected, the path of recovery is proving to be stony for Austrian industry. The latest Bank Austria Purchasing Managers' Index has slipped back just under the growth threshold of 50 points.

Bank Austria Real Invest's latest investment property project Petrusgasse 1A at Vienna-Landstraße is a harmonious mix of excellent location, superior infrastructure and carefully conceived flat designs. This quiet residential area will soon be home to 26 top-notch retirement flats with useful floor spaces of up to 70m².

Florian Klenk, the deputy editor of the Viennese newspaper Falter, has been awarded this year's Writing for CEE journalism prize, and a recognition award went to the Bulgarian writer Vlado Trifonov. Florian Klenk received the award, which was presented for the sixth time by Bank Austria and the Austria Press Agency, along with EUR 5,000 for a report that appeared in the Berliner Zeitung in August 2008.

The economic location of Carinthia is continuing the convergence process that began in the 1990s and is gradually eliminating structural weaknesses. This process is being aided by a geopolitical environment that has completely changed, allowing Carinthia to go from a province located on the outskirts of Europe to a gateway to three dynamic future markets.

Against the background of the lasting financial and economic crisis, Bank Austria has launched a training initiative for young people. With the "Best Start" initiative, Austria's number one in the banking market creates around 200 new long-term training positions for apprentices, school-leavers with exam and university graduates with immediate effect.

In the course of UniCredit's cooperation with UEFA, Bank Austria is offering a new card as from November 2009: The MasterCard Prepaid card featuring the UEFA Champions League Design. Clients paying with this MasterCard Prepaid card have the opportunity to win two tickets for the UEFA Champions League final game in Madrid on May 22, 2010.

The Austrian economy has clearly started to bounce back from its low and is recovering gradually. "The Bank Austria Business Indicator improved to -0.4 points in October, up from -0.7 in the previous month. The Indicator has been climbing for half a year, which suggests that the upward trend in the domestic economy will persist," said Bank Austria's chief economist, Stefan Bruckbauer.

Operating profit up by 31 per cent to new record level of EUR 2.8 billion

"Full recovery from the crisis needs time, but the appeal of CEE banking is definitely there and our commitment to the Central and Eastern European region has proven to be the right strategy," says Federico Ghizzoni, Head of the CEE Banking Division of Bank Austria, referring to the recent banking study by UniCredit Group.

The Austrian sustainability magazine "Lebensart" has this year appointed Bank Austria Manager Fred Luks as Austria's Best Sustainability Manager.

With the third SME Info Day in Vienna, Bank Austria continues its information campaign for small and medium-sized companies in Austria. This time, visitors will be informed about support of SMEs and corresponding conditions. Bank Austria organizes the SME Info Day among others together with austria wirtschaftsservice (aws), Vienna Business Agency (WWFF), Wiener Kreditbürgschaftsgesellschaft (WKBG) and Wifi Vienna.

With approximately 320,000 new vehicles sold, 1992 is still the record year for Austrian automobile dealers. Since then, new vehicle registrations have been between 280,000 and 310,000 automobiles per year, with 294,000 in 2008. It is remarkable that the 310,000 mark is likely to be broken again in the recession year 2009.

"Strong increases in orders, especially from abroad, are driving the recovery in Austrian industry" explains Helmut Bernkopf, Bank Austria Board Member responsible for Corporate & Investment Banking, summarising the results of the latest Bank Austria Purchasing Managers' Index. "The orders books are growing, purchasing volumes are increasing and delivery times are falling due to the rise in capacity utilisation. Only employment continues to decline." Despite the less favourable trends in prices, the pace of activity in Austrian industry is picking up right now.

More than 1.5 million customers will go to Austrian banks on October 30, primarily in order to receive information about the options for personal provisioning. For the first time since the crisis broke out, however, interest in securities is increasing again, which is a sign that confidence in markets is returning. These are the results of the latest Bank Austria Investment Barometer, a representative survey carried out by the GfK Austria market research institute commissioned by Bank Austria.

Vienna is one of the most prosperous cities in Europe. The standard of living in Austria's capital is 125 per cent of the national average and over 180 per cent of the EU average, and is rooted especially in the city's highly successful services industry.

The financial and economic crises have made it clear: conscious money management, secure investment opportunities and savings as well as dealing with financial problems and losses are everything else but a matter of course. The Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection as well as the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, the Austrian Financial Marketing Association (fmv) and Bank Austria will discuss today "Brauchen die Österreicher einen Turbo für Finanzwissen?” ("Do Austrians need a turbo for financial know-how?") in the Oktogon Hall on 16th of October 2009.

The UniCredit Group Art Collection, one of Europe's largest corporate collections, is the source of a travelling exhibition entitled PastPresentFuture, which opens Friday, October 16 at the historic Bank Austria Kunstforum in Vienna.  Works will be on display from the collections of the various banks that make up the UniCredit Group.

The upward trend in the Austrian economy continues. In September, the Bank Austria Business Indicator improved to -0.7 points, from -0.9 in the previous month. "The rebound in economic activity in Austria is continuing for now. But the flattening upward trend in the Indicator in September suggests that the recovery will begin to weaken again soon," notes Bank Austria's chief economist, Stefan Bruckbauer, discussing the current result.

With immediate effect, Bank Austria provides security-oriented investors with new bonds with rising interest rates. The new stepped bond series 110 / 2009 - 2015 with 2.00 to 4.00 per cent interest has a term of six years and a denomination of EUR100.

In relation to the construction of a new plant by a leading German auto manufacturer, the Moll Group, headquartered in Bavaria, has received its largest order ever, with a volume of over EUR 30 million.

Bank Austria is providing a particularly attractive KünstlerSparbuch also this year, for the first time in connection with charity. For each new savings book, Bank Austria will spend 50 cents to the "Space!lab" youth job project.

According to the Supervisory Board decision from 29 July of this year, Willibald Cernko, 53, will take over as CEO of Bank Austria tomorrow. His predecessor, Erich Hampel, will become the deputy chairman of the bank’s Supervisory Board on the same day, and will also continue to be a member of the Supervisory Board for five subsidiaries of Bank Austria in Central and Eastern Europe.

Bank Austria Purchasing Managers' Index increases to 50.3 points in September.

Under the aegis of Erich Hampel, Bank Austria successfully turned its vision of becoming an Austrian bank with responsibility for 19 countries in CEE into a reality and went from a "national champion" to a leading player in the "Champions League" of European banking.

Today UniCredit Group inaugurated its three year sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League by hosting the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour in Milan, a glamorous event that enables football fans and the general public to see the trophy, and feel the excitement of the most prestigious club football competition.

The Austrian economy has started to emerge from the economic crisis and is enjoying a strong tailwind at the moment. This is evident from Bank Austria’s Business Indicator, which has been rising steadily since bottoming out in April.

Enormous interest from Austrian business in guarantees from the Austrian Control Bank

The second SME Info Day will offer concise information and expert talks on business succession and transferring an existing business.

Representative Patrizia Zoller-Frischauf and Bank Austria's regional directors Martin Anker and Markus Sappl invite you to attend the first SME Info Day in Innsbruck on 17 September 2009.

Students who open a Bank Austria StudentenKonto not only will receive a laptop bag as welcome gift but also will have a lot of benefits with the Maestro cash card. During leisure time, Bank Austria Ticketing will provide for savings of up to 20 per cent for up to 4,000 events, from cinema to concerts.

The performance of Austrian manufacturing has stabilised. The downturn has ended.

Sentiment in the food industry darkened under the influence of the international economic crisis towards the end of 2008. But unlike in other sectors, production levels were only stepped back slightly, and not until the beginning of 2009. These are among the results of the latest Bank Austria Economics sector report.

There are growing signs that the Austrian economy is poised for stabilisation. The Bank Austria Business Indicator has been moving upwards for the last three months.

Prospects for a recovery of world growth to boost CEE, but economic growth remains below potential.

Real Invest Austria, the flagship of Bank Austria Real Invest, continues to impress investors with its unique market position among open real estate funds. The fund has over EUR 900 million under management and invests solely in Austrian properties.

Operating profit rises to record level of over EUR 2 billion driven by strong operating performance in customer business, up by about 51 per cent on H1 2008.

The Bank Austria Purchasing Manager's Index for July 2009 confirmed the improving conditions in industry with another hefty jump from 42.0 to 46.5. "Even though our Purchasing Manager's Index remained below the critical 50-point mark in July again with its reading of 46.5, some sub-components are showing signs for the first time in 18 months that Austria's industry is bottoming out," says Helmut Bernkopf, Bank Austria Management Board member for commercial customers and investment banking.

Yesterday the Supervisory Board of Bank Austria adopted the following resolutions concerning the future composition of the Management Board and the distribution of responsibilities: Willibald Cernko will become Bank Austria's new Chairman of the Management Board with effect from 1 October 2009.

The European Investment Bank granted Bank Austria a global loan for EUR 150 million with a total term of eight years. These attractive funds will help to refinance new commercial loans.

Following the crisis year of 2008, the first two months of this year were also not particularly promising. In March, however, equities began a massive rally that continues to hold on despite interruptions.

Journalists from all over Europe are invited to submit their work for the prestigious "Writing for CEE" journalism prize by 31 July 2009. The prize is being awarded for the sixth time by Bank Austria, a member of UniCredit Group and APA – Austria Press Agency, and is aimed at encouraging the journalistic examination of issues related to European integration.

Subject to the Supervisory Board's decision, Bank Austria will integrate the Markets & Investment Banking Division into its corporate banking activities on 31 July in accordance with UniCredit's organisational structure. This expanded business unit will go by the name of Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB) and will be headed by Bank Austria director Helmut Bernkopf.

The economic situation in Austria is continuing to bottom out. "In June the Bank Austria Business Indicator rose to minus 1.7 points, thus achieving the most significant monthly upward movement for more than 15 years. Only at the end of the 1993 recession was the rise slightly greater", says Bank Austria deputy chief economist Stefan Bruckbauer.

Starting immediately, Bank Austria will waive the management fees until the end of the year for all new ErfolgsKonto current accounts opened by 15 October. This welcome offer applies to ErfolgsKonto, ErfolgsKonto Plus, ErfolgsKonto Premium and ErfolgsKonto Gold accounts.

In line with the decision of the Export Credit Agencies, the three banks will apply the mechanism foreseen in case the contractually agreed measures ensuring the World Bank guidelines on environment, resettlement and cultural heritage are not fully implemented.

Although the value is slightly down from last year, over half of all Austrians still believe that they are be able to save less now than they could three years ago. This is indicated by the current Bank Austria investment barometer, a representative survey performed by the market research institute GfK and commissioned by Bank Austria.

Starting from today, UniCredit becomes an official sponsor of the UEFA Champions League for the next three seasons (2009-2012), initiating an exciting journey to position its brand at the top - in Europe and the world - in terms of visibility and awareness.

At the beginning of July, Monika Rosen, 47, will take over as Head of Research of the UniCredit Private Banking division. This will make the native of Vienna responsible for the research agendas of the Private Banking division throughout Europe. She will be working in Vienna.

In June, the seasonally-adjusted Bank Austria Purchase Manager's Index (PMI) improved markedly from 39.3 to 42 points. The indicator has now been pointing upwards for the third consecutive month. A clear upward trend of this kind was last seen at the turn of the year 2005/2006, although the indicator was at that time pursuing a path of sound growth.

A few weeks ago Bank Austria concluded its first soft loan to the Republic of Albania. The country was represented in the negotiations by its ministry of finance. The volume of the loan is EUR 7.5 million and will be used to modernise Shefqet Ndroqi University Hospital, which is located in the Albanian capital of Tirana and has 300 beds.

The new ErfolgsAnleihe with fixed interest of 3.30 per cent for the first year is now available in all Bank Austria branches. After the end of the first year, the interest rate will be adjusted semi-annually to the six-month EURIBOR interbank rate with no deductions, allowing the investor to profit from rising interest rates over a short term of four years.

Effective at the beginning of July, Herbert Hangel, 38, will assume the newly created position of Head of Global Banking Services Austria. He will succeed Robert Zadrazil and will report directly to the CEO of Bank Austria, Erich Hampel, as well as to UniCredit Group's Head of Group Organisation an Logistics Services in the future.

"Compared to last summer, European holiday destinations are more affordable this year, especially Eastern European countries such as Poland, Romania and Hungary," says Stefan Bruckbauer, deputy chief economist at Bank Austria, summarising the most recent calculation of the holiday euro.

Together with the austria wirtschaftsservice (aws), the Vienna Business Agency, the Wiener Kreditbürgschaftsgesellschaft (WKBG) and Wifi Wien, Bank Austria will be launching its SME information events in June.

Bank Austria Wohnbaubank AG has issued a new fixed-interest home building bond, 4.00% WohnbauAnleihe 2009–2022/4, which has a term of 13 years. The denomination of this continuous issue is EUR 100, with a recommended minimum investment of EUR 1,000.

"The downward trend that has plagued the Bank Austria Business Indicator since the middle of 2007 has been broken. After signs of a stabilisation in April, the indicator increased by 0.4 points to -2.5 in May," says Stefan Bruckbauer, Bank Austria's deputy chief economist.

Austria has finally been hit by the global economic recession. The extent to which it is affected, however, varies greatly from one province to the next.

Bank Austria wishes to correct recent inaccurate media speculation about its connection with Bank Medici. Bank Austria was only ever a minority shareholder in Bank Medici and did not exercise control over Bank Medici. All day to day activities in Bank Medici were the responsibility of the executive officers of Bank Medici.

The new ErfolgsAnleihe with fixed interest of 3.65 percent for the first year is now available in all Bank Austria branches. After the end of the first year, the interest rate will be adjusted semi-annually to the six-month EURIBOR interbank rate with no deductions, whereby the minimum annual interest rate for the remaining three years of the term is 2 percent.

The sharp upward trend of the seasonally adjusted Bank Austria Purchase Manager's Index (PMI) in April lost much of its momentum in May, with the indicator rising only slightly to 39.3 points. This still represents a significant downturn of Austria's manufacturing industry, which has now been contracting for over one year.

Bank Austria is donating EUR 20,000 for families in need. Erich Hampel, chairman of Bank Austria's Management Board, presented the donation to Caritas director Michael Landau at the shelter for women and children run by the Caritas chapter of the Archdiocese of Vienna in the city's Leopoldstadt district. The donation will go to the Bank Austria Familienfonds, which is managed by Caritas and was established fifteen years ago.

Austria’s leading bank will see a change at the top. Erich Hampel will retire as Chairman of the Management Board of Bank Austria at his own request with effect from 30 September 2009 and will become a member of the bank’s Supervisory Board.

Bank Austria, a member of UniCredit Group, is announcing the prestigious journalism prize "Writing for CEE" in cooperation with the APA - Austria Press Agency for the sixth time.

Yesterday, Michael Nikbakhsh, who heads the economics department at the news magazine profil, was honoured with Bank Austria’s distinguished Horst Knapp Prize for his journalistic achievements in the past year.

Today a presentation was given in London at the EBRD Annual Meeting by Debora Revoltella, Head of Strategic Analysis for CEE at UniCredit Group, on the following topic: "CEE: can the past success factors be the future success drivers?" The text below is an abstract of the presentation.

"In April, the Bank Austria Business Indicator fell to a new low of -2.3 points. This marginal decline on the previous month suggests that the indicator could soon start to stabilise at a low level" says Stefan Bruckbauer, Deputy Chief Economist of Bank Austria.

As a result of the recent evaluation process in the Private Banking sector, UniCredit Bank Austria has decided to integrate Bank Privat in the new Private Banking Division of Bank Austria.

In recent years, the city of Vienna has successfully exploited its geographical position at the centre of a Europe that is growing ever closer and today it ranks among the top 10 European cities in terms of prosperity, location quality and structure.

Customer business in Austria shows a stable trend, and operating profit in Central and Eastern Europe continued to rise strongly, by 42 per cent.

In a meeting held today, the Supervisory Board of Bank Austria made decisions as planned on the future composition of the bank’s top management. Rainer Hauser will join the Management Board with effect from 1 June, taking over responsibility for retail banking from Ralph Müller, who will leave the bank.

The new ErfolgsAnleihe with fixed interest of 3.65 per cent for the first year is now available in all Bank Austria branches.

Wolfgang Feuchtmüller, director and advisor to the management board of Bank Austria and spokesman of the board of directors of Notartreuhandbank AG, today accepted the Decoration of Honour in Gold of the Republic of Austria from State Secretary of Finance Reinhold Lopatka.

"We are seeing initial signs of an imminent stabilisation of Austrian industry. The seasonally-adjusted Bank Austria Purchase Manager's Index (PMI) has clearly moved upwards in April" remarked Stefan Bruckbauer, Bank Austria's Deputy Chief Economist.

As in the rest of Europe, the construction economy in Austria has two or three difficult years ahead of it. Even if production cuts remain moderate, unemployment in the construction sector will increase significantly. This is the conclusion of the current sector report by Bank Austria's Economics Department.

Angerlehner Hoch- und Tiefbaugesellschaft mbH, a company specialising in the renovation of sewers and pipes and based in the Austrian town of Pucking near Linz, will continue on its path to international success in 2009. In order to support the company's further expansion plans – particularly in Asia – and to meet its increased requirements for equity capital for project financing, Mezzanin Finanzierungs AG is investing EUR 3 million in mezzanine capital.

Bank Austria Wohnbaubank AG has issued a new fixed-interest home building bond, 3,75 % WohnbauAnleihe 2009–2022/3, which has a term of 13 years. The denomination of this continuous issue is EUR 100, with a recommended minimum investment of EUR 1,000.

"Following a short-lived break in the previous month, the slide in the Bank Austria Business Indicator continued in March. With the fall to -2.2, the indicator has reached the lowest level since the survey started 20 years ago", says Stefan Bruckbauer, deputy chief economist at Bank Austria. The downward trend also remains broadly based.

Bank Austria sponsored one family in each of the ten Austrian SOS Children's Villages last year. The bank‘s large donation this year of EUR 31,408 was made possible once again thanks to the dedication of its employees, and it will allow the intense partnership with SOS Children's Village to continue in the form of excellent projects for the families.

The internationally respected financial magazine emeafinance has named UniCredit Bulbank, the Bulgarian subsidiary of UniCredit Group, as the 'Best foreign bank in Bulgaria'. This is the outcome of an annual survey done by emeafinance where the financial institutions in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) were evaluated.

"In contrast to a year ago, the value of the holiday euro this Easter has increased in many European destinations, while destinations that are farther away have become more expensive," says Stefan Bruckbauer, deputy chief economist at Bank Austria, summarising the most recent calculation of the holiday euro.

The American financial magazine Global Finance has named Bank Austria the "Best Bank in Austria" as a result of the magazine's annual survey, "The World's Best Banks in Developed Markets".

The situation of Austria's industrial sector continues to deteriorate. The seasonally-adjusted Bank Austria Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell further in March and at 33.7 points it is now only slightly above the all-time low of January.

Bank Austria Creditanstalt Wohnbaubank AG placed issues totalling EUR 262 million on the market in fiscal year 2008, pushing the bank’s total volume of issues since its founding in 1994 to over EUR 4.4 billion.

Bank Austria is now offering security-oriented investors a new series of mortgage bonds with rising interest rates: The new series of stepped coupon mortgage bonds, 3,00 %–3,50 % Stufenzinspfandbrief-Reihe 109 / 2009–2015, has a term of six years and a denomination of EUR 100.

Erich Hampel, Bank Austria's Chief Executive Officer: "2008 was a very difficult year for banks, with exceptional negative impacts resulting from the financial market crisis, which started one and a half years ago, and from the global economic downturn towards the end of the year. Our focus on customer business and our business model of a widely diversified universal bank again proved successful in this market environment."

The Bank Austria Business Indicator improved in February for the first time in a year. However, the marginal increase of 0.1 points to the still very low value of -1.7 is not a sign of an economic reversal," says Stefan Bruckbauer, deputy chief economist at Bank Austria, commenting on the current value.

Austria's wood processing industry will not emerge from the economic downturn unscathed, but will not bear any lasting scars. This is the core finding of a current sector report prepared by Bank Austria Economics.

Bank Austria's Corporates Division launched a new image campaign with the motto "To give every idea an opportunity" at the beginning of the month. The campaign was developed by the agency Jung von Matt / Donau and will run until December of this year.

The downward trend in Austrian industry is beginning to slow down. For the first time in half a year, the seasonally adjusted Bank Austria Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) has improved slightly.

The action week by the City of Vienna, Vienna Chamber of the Economy, the Economic Development Fund, AWS, Bank Austria and other lending institutions on SME financing has met with great interest.

Martin Hehemann (44), Senior Vice President Brand Management, will leave UniCredit Group at the end of June 2009 to pursue a new career opportunity.

At the beginning of 2009, the Bank Austria Business Indicator again moved downward, signalling that the downturn of the Austrian economy will continue. The indicator has now been falling for twelve months in succession.

The downturn experienced by Austria's industry has continued in the new year. In January, the seasonally adjusted Bank Austria Purchase Manager's Index (PMI) fell to 33.1 points from 35 in the previous month. This represents a new historic low since data first began to be collected more than ten years ago.

Starting immediately, Bank Austria is offering a KlimaKredit loan with an UmweltBonus for retail banking customers and in this way helping to finance environmentally sound refurbishment and renovation projects.

Starting today, the homepage of Austria's largest bank will feature the same design as its umbrella brand, UniCredit Group.

The traditional UniCredit CAIB investors conference will take place this year from 21 to 24 January 2009 at Hotel Schloss Lebenberg in Kitzbühel.

At the turn of the year there were still no signs of an end to the negative trend in the Austrian economy. The Bank Austria Business Indicator has fallen from -0.8 in the previous month to a new low of -1.2 points.