Austria: Participation capital rediscovered
Schönherr, Vienna |
February 01, 2009
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Schoenherr
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Austrian credit institutions recently rediscovered the benefits of participation capital (partizipationskapital) when it comes to increasing their Core Tier I ratio and to enhancing their risk-bearing capacity. Inspired by the Austrian financial market stability scheme, intended to assist credit institutions and insurance undertakings in the looming financial crisis, institutions appear to have rediscovered this Austrian-specific instrument. Several Austrian banks have announced that they might draw on the state's assistance by issuing participation capital in order to enhance their financial status.
Origins
Originally implemented in the Austrian legal system in 1986 to help savings banks and mutual insurance undertakings to raise funds on the capital markets, participation capital takes an intermediate position between share capital and debt. In the early nineties, participation capital began to lose its appeal, due to an alleged lack of international compatibility. Furthermore, other...
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