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Definitions

Contents

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Nonresident

For the purpose of reporting to the OeNB, a nonresident is an individual, a legal person or a partnership whose place of residency or headquarters is in a country other than Austria. Branches established by Austrian entities abroad are classified as nonresident if their headquarters are abroad, irrespective of whether they are a separate legal entity or not.

Direct or other investment

  • Share of less than 10%

Direct or other investment refers to equity ownership. Shares of less than 10% arise from investments made by individuals or legal persons residing in country A in enterprises residing in country B, irrespective of whether these enterprises are separate legal entities or not. Shares of less than 10% refer to less than 10% of the shareholders’ voting power (other than stock investments, which are to be reported under domestic custody accounts (AWWPI report) or less than 10% of the portfolio of assets held on custody accounts abroad, own-use securities and crypto assets (AWWPA)). In particular, shares of less than 10% may be held in the form of equity capital of profit-oriented legal persons, partnerships and civil-law associations. Shares of less than 10% may also be established through atypical silent holdings and through equity-based profit-sharing certificates. See also other investment. 

For reporting purposes, we distinguish between shares of less than 10% held by residents in foreign entities and shares of less than 10% held by nonresidents in domestic entities.

To report transactions related to shares of less than 10%, use the AWBET report (cross-border investors and affiliates - transactions). 

  • Counterparty

The counterparty is the party on the other side of a trade, irrespective of whether the two parties are affiliated or not, or whether they belong to the same organization or not. 

  • Direct investment

Direct investment refers to affiliate ownership by individuals or legal persons (“direct investors”) residing in country A in an entity (“direct investment enterprise”) residing in country B when the underlying shares have been acquired with the objective of establishing long-term economic relations and influencing the management of the enterprise, which may be a separate legal entity or not (see Article 228 Corporate code – Handelsgesetzbuch). In particular, affiliate ownership may be established by acquiring equity capital of profit-oriented legal persons, partnerships and civil-law associations. Affiliate ownership may also be established through atypical silent holdings and on the basis of equity-based profit-sharing certificates. Direct investment also covers investment in branches, establishments or operational facilities that are not separate legal entities.

Outward direct investment (outward FDI) refers to investments of residents in a nonresident entity.

Inward direct investment (inward FDI) refers to investments of nonresidents in a resident entity.

For the purpose of compiling the balance of payments, a direct investment relationship exists if the cross-border investment accounts for 10% or more of the voting equity capital. If the cross-border investments of related shareholders add up to 10% or more in the voting equity capital, every single investment qualifies as a direct investment.

In the case of limited partnerships, the 10% rule applies to the agreed scope of investment or to the share held in the sum total of the agreed partnership contributions.

Direct investment covers both direct and indirect ownership of affiliates.

In the case of direct affiliates, investors established ownership in a direct investment enterprise without going through a holding company or another entity.

In the case of indirect affiliates, investors have established a direct investment relationship but no direct ownership. Indirect affiliate ownership involves:

• foreign affiliates controlled by foreign direct investment enterprises (in the case of outward FDI)
• domestic affiliates controlled by resident direct investment enterprises (with nonresident inward direct investors) (in the case of inward FDI

To report FDI-related transactions, use the AWBET template for cross-border investors and affiliates (transactions). To report FDI-related stocks, use the AWBES template for cross-border investors and affiliates (stocks).  

Financial derivative

Financial derivatives include all derivatives as defined in annex 2 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms (CRR Regulation) and credit derivatives. Financial derivatives refer to purchases and sales of options, futures, forwards, swaps and other financial derivatives.

To report (domestic and foreign) financial derivatives that are traded on a stock exchange, such as standardized options and futures to which ISINs have been assigned, use the AWFDE template for financial derivatives. Do not use the AWWPI template for domestic custody accounts.

To report derivative securities or securitized financial derivatives such as warrants, certificates (guarantee certificates, index certificates, turbo certificates, etc.), securities with embedded financial derivatives (reverse convertible bonds, index bonds, convertible or exchangeable bonds, credit-linked notes, etc.) and similar leveraged products structured as securities, use the  AWWPI template for domestic custody accounts. Do not use the AWFDE template for domestic custody accounts.

Trade credit

Trade credit refers to financing provided by the provider of goods or services by allowing the customer to pay at a later scheduled date. Vice versa, trade credit also refers to prepayments made by the customer before receipt of the goods or services.

Resident

For the purpose of reports to be made to the OeNB, a resident is defined as an individual whose home is in Austria or whose period of residence in Austria exceeds three months (irrespective of nationality); or a legal person or partnership whose place of residency or headquarters is in Austria. Branches established by foreign entities in Austria are classified as resident if their headquarters are in Austria, irrespective of whether they are a separate legal entity or not.

International securities identification number (ISIN)

The international securities identification number (ISIN) is a 12-digit combination of letters and numbers that serves to unambiguously identify a given securities instrument (ISIN code under ISO 6166). ISINs are assigned by dedicated national numbering agencies (NNAs; in Austria, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank (OeKB)). An ISIN will be deemed valid when it is contained in the database of the Association of NNAs (ANNA).

An ISIN consists of:

  • a 2-digit country code (AT for Austria, DE for Germany, etc.),

  • a 9-digit national ID, and

  • a 1-digit verification code.

Monetary financial institution (MFI) 

Monetary financial institutions (MFIs) include resident entities classified in one of the following sectors:

  1. central banks,

  2. other MFIs: which include

    1. deposit-taking undertakings:

      1. credit institutions as defined in Article 4 para. 1 item 1 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms, and

      2. deposit-taking undertakings other than credit institutions, namely

        1. other financial institutions under EU law whose main function is to provide financial intermediation services and which are engaged in the business of taking in deposits and/or close substitutes for deposits from other institutional units, including monetary financial institutions (reflecting the substitutability between financial instruments issued by other MFIs and deposits taken by credit institutions), granting loans for their own account (at least from a business perspective) and/or making investments in securities for their own account; or

        2. e-money institutions whose main function consists in providing financial intermediation services by issuing electronic money,

    2. money market funds as defined in ECB Regulation (EU) No 1071/2013 Article 2 concerning the balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector.

The terms “reporting agent” and “resident” are equivalent to the definitions used in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98;

OeNB ID number

OeNB ID numbers are unique identifiers assigned by the OeNB to individuals or legal persons.

Repurchase agreement

Pensionsgeschäfte sind Verträge, durch die natürliche oder juristische Personen (Pensionsgeber) ihnen gehörende Vermögensgegenstände einer anderen natürlichen oder juristischen Person (Pensionsnehmer) gegen Zahlung eines Betrages übertragen und in denen gleichzeitig vereinbart wird, dass die Vermögensgegenstände später gegen Entrichtung des empfangenen oder eines im Voraus vereinbarten anderen Betrages an den Pensionsgeber zurück übertragen werden. 

  • Übernimmt der Pensionsnehmer die Verpflichtung, die Vermögensgegenstände zu einem bestimmten oder vom Pensionsgeber zu bestimmenden Zeitpunkt zurück zu übertragen, so handelt es sich um ein echtes Pensionsgeschäft (§ 50 Abs. 2 BWG). Echte Pensionsgeschäfte sind in der Zahlungsbilanzstatistik als Kredite zwischen Pensionsgeber und Pensionsnehmer zu zeigen bzw. in der Erhebung AWFUV zu melden. Die Bestandsgrößen aus dem Grundgeschäft bleiben unverändert. Unter echten Pensionsgeschäften mit dem Vermögensgegenstand Wertpapiere werden im Allgemeinen Repo-Geschäfte (Repurchase Agreements) verstanden. Diese sind nicht als Wertpapier-Transaktion zu melden.

  • Ist der Pensionsnehmer lediglich berechtigt, die Vermögensgegenstände zu einem vorher bestimmten oder von ihm noch zu bestimmenden Zeitpunkt zurück zu übertragen, so liegt ein unechtes Pensionsgeschäft vor (§ 50 Abs. 3 BWG). Unechte Pensionsgeschäfte mit Wertpapieren sind als Wertpapier-Transaktionen in der Erhebung AWWPI zu melden. 

Asset sale and repurchase (repo) transactions are transactions under which individuals or legal persons (repo seller = cash borrower) transfer assets they own to other individuals or legal persons (repo buyer = cash provider) against payment of a specified amount, subject to an agreement that the same assets will subsequently be transferred back to the repo seller against payment of the price paid or another specified amount. 

  • Under a repurchase agreement, the repo buyer agrees to return the assets to the repo seller on a date specified or to be specified by the repo seller (article 50 para. 2 of the Austrian Banking Act). Repurchase agreements are to be reported as loans between the repo seller and the repo buyer in the AWFUV report, without adjustment of the underlying securities. In other words, transactions under repurchase agreements are not to be reported as securities transactions.

  • If the repo buyer merely has the right to retransfer the assets on a prespecified date or at a time to be specified by the transferee, then the transaction constitutes a sale with an option to repurchase (Article 50 para. 3 of the Austrian Banking Act). Securities sales with an option to repurchase are to be recorded as securities transactions in the AWWPI report

Other investment

Other investment (OI) includes all financial transactions (credit and debit balances) between residents and nonresidents that are not covered by direct investment, portfolio investment or financial derivatives.

Other investment includes credits and loans, transaction accounts, deposits, settlement accounts (also for cash pooling and clearing accounts), finance leases, syndicate loans, export promotion loans, shares of less than 10% as well as other credit and debit balances (arising from fiduciary transactions, ABS (asset-backed securities) transactions, etc.) on the one hand, and suppliers’ credits (extended and/or received) on the other hand.

Master data

Master data consist of entity attributes, relationship attributes and securities attributes. Such attributes serve to uniquely identify entities/securities and are essential for processing and aggregating the reported data in an adequate manner. Master data enable us to map reporting data to master data and therefore need to be entered with due diligence. See: Master data required for reporting.

Portfolio investment

Portfolio investment may serve a number of purposes:

  • Provision of collateral:

Securities provided as collateral (see AWWPA, AWWPI)

The definition of securities includes the following instruments, irrespective

  • of whether the securities have been issued by residents or nonresidents.

  • of the currency in which the securities have been issued,

  • of whether they have been issued as certificated securities or in the form of crypto security tokens.

  • equity securities, such as

    • common and preferred stock

    • mutual fund shares (to be invested in financial assets or real estate)

    • rights issues

    • dividend-right certificates and certificates of participation

  • debt securities, such as

    • coupon bonds

    • zero-coupon bonds

    • floating rate notes

    • perpetual bonds (fixed-rate bonds that are not redeemable)

    • federal treasury bills and notes

    • commercial papers

    • certificates of deposit

    • medium-term bonds

    • registered bonds

    • mortgage bonds, covered bank bonds, asset-backed securities.

    • pool factor bonds

    • inflation-indexed bonds

  • other bonds, such as

    •  warrants

    • certificates (index tracker bonds, convertible bonds, reverse convertible bonds, credit-linked notes)

    • securitized leveraged products

The definition of securities does not include:

  • financial derivatives (options and futures, even when ISIN-based, swaps – see also AWFDE)

  • bonded loans AWFUV

  • checks

  • promissory notes

  • Equity investment:

Assets invested in securities with the objective of establishing long-term economic relations and influencing the management of the enterprise (see AWWPA, AWWPI)

Assets invested in securities not for the objective of direct investment but for profit (see AWWPA, AWWPI)

Securities lending 

Securities lending is an arrangement whereby securities are transferred to a borrower for a fee for a specified period of time or until further notice, under condition that securities of the same type and quality will be returned at the end of the lending period. The securities thus transferred onto a custody account maintained by the borrower are not removed from the lender’s balance sheet. Thus, these transactions are not to be reported as securities transactions.

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