Central Institute of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group
Within the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group (RBG), RBI is the central institute of the Regional Raiffeisen Banks and other affiliated credit institutions. In this function, it renders particularly the liquidity balancing for the affiliated credit institutions under the relevant legal rules and is a member of the federal Institutional Protection Scheme.
Main functions of Raiffeisen Bank International
RBI is the central institute of the Regional Raiffeisen Banks. Together with the 342 banks of the Raiffeisen sector (as per 31 December 2021), they form the largest cash pool in Austria.
According to the Banking Act (§27a), members of this cash pool are required to hold a liquidity reserve at the central institute.
The liquidity reserve is calculated as being 10 per cent of the savings deposits and 20 per cent of the other Euro deposits, subject to a maximum of 14 per cent of the entire Euro deposits.
Raiffeisen Bank International AG and its Austrian bank subsidiaries, the regional Raiffeisen banks and the local Raiffeisen banks, are part of the agreement on an institutional protection scheme (Raiffeisen-IPS) as well as the Austrian Raiffeisen-Sicherungseinrichtung eGen (ÖRS), as a statutory protection scheme.
In the agreement on the Raiffeisen-IPS, the member institutions agree to ensure one another’s security and in particular, join forces to ensure liquidity and solvency when required. The new Raiffeisen-IPS was recognized by the relevant supervisory authorities (ECB and FMA) as an institutional protection scheme according to Article 113 (7) CRR (Capital Requirements Regulation of the European Union) and its related rights and obligations of the participating member institutions. This allows, among other things, for receivables to be risk-weighted at zero per cent between Raiffeisen-IPS members. The Raiffeisen-IPS is subject to joint regulatory supervision and capital requirements must also be met on a consolidated basis.
The Raiffeisen-IPS was recognized together with ÖRS by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) as a statutory deposit guarantee and investor protection scheme according to the Austrian Deposit Guarantee and Investor Protection Act (Einlagensicherungs- und Anlegerentschädigungsgesetz – ESAEG).
ÖRS is mandated to operate the reporting and early risk assessment systems for the Raiffeisen-IPS. ÖRS also acts as trustee and manages the liquid assets for the Raiffeisen-IPS.
RBI exercises its auditing responsibility through its Group Internal Audit division in accordance with §42 of the Austrian Banking Act (BWG) as internal auditor of RBI and group auditor of the RBI Group. Ongoing and extensive audits are undertaken with regard to legality, compliance and expediency.