VZCZCXRO7812
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHVI #1257/01 2731013
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301013Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3382
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 001257 
 
SENSITIVE, SIPDIS 
 
TREASURY FOR FTAT, OCC/SIEGEL, AND OASIA/ICB/MAIER 
TREASURY PASS TO FEDERAL RESERVE AND SEC/E. JACOBS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EFIN AU
SUBJECT: Austria Banking/Finance Update 
 
REF: (A) Vienna 0642; (B) Vienna 0484; (C) 08 Vienna 1619; (D) 08 
Vienna 1665 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified; not for internet distribution. 
 
SUMMARY 
- - - - 
 
¶1. First-half results of Austrian banks were largely positive, with 
higher operating results offset by a strong expansion of loan loss 
provisions.  Tier 1 capital ratios as of June 30 ranged from 6.7% to 
10.9%.  Unicredit Bank Austria will not take GoA equity 
participation and financial sector experts predict that none of 
Austria's other large banks will need further resort to GoA capital. 
 The Lehman collapse cost Austrian banks and insurance companies EUR 
470 million in write-offs.  Austrian industry is showing strong 
interest in the GoA's EUR 10 billion loan guarantee facility.  The 
Vienna Stock Exchange and the stock exchanges of Budapest, Ljubljana 
and Prague have formed a family brand "CEE Stock Exchange 
Group/CEESEG" and recently launched two new joint stock indices for 
the CESEE area.  END SUMMARY. 
 
Mixed Earning/Loss Reports for First Half of 2009 
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¶2. Overall, the results of Austrian banks in the first half of 2009 
were positive, characterized by an increase in operating results 
compared to the same period of 2008 and a strong increase in loan 
loss provisions, according to a central bank press release.  Taking 
a look at the big six: 
-- BA, Erste/EB, and Raiffeisen Zentralbank/RZB reported increasing 
operating profits.  Despite large net write downs of loans and huge 
loan loss provisions, which ranged from a doubling to a six fold 
increase, they all showed net profits after taxes.  RZB's CESEE 
subsidiary Raiffeisen International/RI also reported a small profit 
after taxes. 
-- BAWAG was able to report a small net profit after taxes compared 
to a loss in the first half of 2008. 
-- Volksbanken/VB is still suffering from losses in its former 
Kommunalkredit subsidiary (ref C) and from structured investments: 
it reported an after-tax loss of EUR 93 million for the first half 
and disclosed that it will likely report a loss for all of 2009.  VB 
is restructuring and downsizing itself, which may include the sale 
of its subsidiary Investkredit (a bank specialized in corporate 
finance and real estate). 
-- Hypo Alpe Adria/HAA reported a loss after taxes of EUR 162 
million for the first half of 2009.  Like VB, HAA has launched a 
restructuring program. 
 
¶3.  Tier 1 capital ratios as of June 30 were as follows: 
     BA    7.5% 
     Erste 8.4% 
     RZB  10.9% 
     RI   10.4% 
     BAWAG 6.7% 
     VB   10.7% 
     HAA   8.1% 
 
GoA Equity for Banks 
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¶4. Bank Austria/BA has said it will not/not take GoA equity 
participation, pulling out of talks with the Finance Ministry/MoF 
for a GoA equity participation (targeting around EUR 2 billion).  BA 
had opposed a swap option clause allowing the GoA to convert its 
participatory capital into voting stock -- part of GoA contracts 
with Hypo Alpe Adria, Volksbanken and BAWAG -- arguing that its main 
competitors Erste Bank and Raiffeisen Zentralbank/RZB do not have 
such clauses in their state equity agreements.  BA's Italian parent 
UniCredit will raise fresh equity from private sources.  NOTE: 
another GoA precondition for supporting BA was that Unicredit 
receive capital from the Italian government, which also appears 
highly unlikely.  END NOTE. 
 
¶5. The GoA's EUR 550 million equity injection and EUR 400 million 
guarantee (ref A) for BAWAG (fully owned by U.S. investment fund 
Cerberus Capital Management) is still pending European Commission 
approval.  That agreement included the right to convert state equity 
capital into voting stock (for instance if BAWAG defers interest 
payments) and stipulated an equity injection by Cerberus, which 
reportedly came in early August (EUR 260 million).  Hypo Alpe Adria 
and Volksbanken are reportedly not able to pay interest on GoA 
equity, reflecting their weak operating income in the current 
environment. 
 
¶6. Klaus Liebscher, CEO of Finanzmarktbeteiligung / FIMBAG (ref D -- 
the GoA body which administers Austria's EUR 15 billion bank equity 
pool) predicted publicly that none of Austria's large banks will 
have to resort to a second GoA capital infusion.  Liebscher does not 
 
VIENNA 00001257  002 OF 002 
 
 
expect the GoA will use up all of the available EUR 15 billion. 
Thomas Mirow, head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and 
Development (EBRD), has also predicted in the media that Austrian 
banks will not need more capital despite rising loan losses in 
CESEE. 
 
Lehman Brothers: Austrian Losses of EUR 615 Million 
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¶7. The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 cost Austrian 
banks EUR 470 million in write-offs;  Austrian insurance companies, 
EUR 145 million.  Banks most affected were RZB (EUR 227 million), BA 
40 million), Erste (EUR 36 million), VB (EUR 83 million), and 
Kommunalkredit (EUR 45 million).  Among insurers, the Vienna 
Insurance Group wrote off EUR 70 million, Uniqa EUR 40 million and 
Wuestenrot EUR 35 million. 
 
Strong Industry Demand for GoA Lending Guarantees 
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¶8. On July 8, Parliament passed a bill reallocating EUR 10 billion 
of the GoA's EUR 75 billion interbank lending guarantee facility 
(ref A) for guarantees to industry.  A dispute among the governing 
parties SPO and OVP about details of GoA conditions for providing 
the guarantees -- including whether companies using the GoA 
guarantee could pay dividends or bonuses to managers -- delayed 
implementation of the guarantee instrument until mid-August.  Due to 
the delay no individual guarantees have been contracted yet, but 
some 60% of the available EUR 10 billion has reportedly been 
earmarked among some 120 large Austrian enterprises (NOTE: foreign 
companies with large facilities in Austria are also eligible). 
 
New CEE Stock Exchange Group, New Joint CEE Indices 
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¶9. As of September 17, the Vienna Stock Exchange/VSE and the stock 
exchanges of Budapest (majority-owned by VSE), Ljubljana and Prague 
now bear the group brand "CEE Stock Exchange Group" or CEESEG. 
CEESEG has launched two new joint stock indices: 
 
A) the CEETX-CEESEG Traded Index, a capitalization-weighted price 
index in EUR and USD made up of the 25 most actively traded and 
highest capitalized stocks of the CEESEG members, and 
 
B) the CEESEG Composite, a capitalization-weighted price index in 
EUR and USD composed of the CEESEG members' leading share indices, 
i.e., the index comprises the stocks included in the ATX, BUX, PX 
and SBITOP. 
 
EACHO