English »法律研究
One bank for everything
On 12.10.2017 an amendment of the Austrian Consumer Payment Account Act (VZKG) was approved by the National Council. The amendment concerns cash withdrawals at ATM’s. In the future, banks must also pay the fees for cash withdrawals of their customers at independent third-party ATM providers. This means that banks won’t have control over the amount and frequency of withdrawals by their customers and therefore also won’t be able to control the charged fees by such third-parties (contract at the expense of third parties). Considering constitutional rights the amendment is highly questionable.
2017年10月27日
ECJ defines “easily accessible manner”
The Payment Services Act requires the making-available of certain information in an easily accessible manner on a durable medium. For a long time, it was unclear what fulfils these requirements. Sending information to the internal inbox on the e-banking platform is not sufficient according to the ECJ. Usually the e-banking inbox is used for communication with the bank only. To make sure that the information is made available in an easily accessible manner, this information must be sent to a private e-mail account. (8Ob14/17t)
2017年10月17日
More transparency or more bureaucracy ?
The Ultimate Beneficial Owner Register Act (WiEReG) was approved by the National Council at the end of June and by the Federal Council at the beginning of July. The Act implements key parts of the 4th European Anti – Money Laundering Directive, which provides for the introduction of a register of ultimate beneficial owners throughout the EU. The registration authority is established at the Austrian Ministry of Finance. The ultimate beneficial owners of companies (thus also of complex corporate structures), other legal entities and certain trusts must be registered.
2017年8月15日
Where were you pointing?
The civil liability for prospectuses is usually determined according to the law of the place where the tort was committed (lex loci delicti). In a recent decision, the Austrian Supreme Court for civil matters ruled that – for civil liability for prospectuses – the law of the marketing place shall be decisive. According to this, the place for which the prospectus was produced and where it was used, shall determine the applicable law. (4Ob112/15x)
2017年7月18日
Interest adjustment clauses: banks don’t get to keep the margin
An interest adjustment clause in a loan agreement usually consists of a reference interest rate and an interest margin. Since reference interest rates are currently so low and with several indices even dropping below zero, it is possible that in sum the total interest rate drops to zero. However, according to the Supreme Court for Civil Matters, charging the consumer with the margin “in any event” violates the Consumer Protection Act. The bank is however at least not obliged to make payments to the borrower (“negative interest rate”). (8Ob101/16k)
2017年6月27日