The (, , abbr. ) is the

national central bank The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the eurozone, the collective of European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their sole official currency. The European Central Bank (ECB) has, under Article 16 of its Statute,

for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

within the

Eurosystem The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the eurozone, the collective of European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their sole official currency. The European Central Bank (ECB) has, under Article 16 of its Statute,

. It was the Austrian

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

from 1923 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1998, issuing the

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

. It started operations on under the economic assistance provided to Austria by the

Economic and Financial Organization of the League of Nations The Economic and Financial Organization (EFO, ) was the largest of the technical arms of the League of Nations, and the world's first international organization dedicated to promoting economic and monetary co-operation. It took shape in the early ...

, replacing the

Austro-Hungarian Bank The Austro-Hungarian Bank (, , , , , , ) was the central bank of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The institution was founded in 1816 as the privilegirte oesterreichische National-Bank (), and changed its name in 1878 ...

with its name recalling that of the Austro-Hungarian Bank's predecessor entity founded in 1816. It was liquidated following the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

in March 1938, and re-established in July 1945. The OeNB is a

joint-stock corporation A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholder ...

governed by special legislative provision. Its entire capital of €12 million has been held by the Austrian federal government since May 2010, with shareholder rights exercised by the Minister of Finance. Before 2010, half of the capital was in the hands of employer and employee organizations as well as banks and insurance corporations.

History

The Oesterreichische Nationalbank was established under the conditions of the stabilization loan coordinated by the

Economic and Financial Organization An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

in 1922–23. The bank's statutes were drafted by the League's Financial Committee and enacted in Austrian legislation on . The new institution started operations on . It took over the former Austrian-territory branches and operations of the

, whose liquidation had been implemented in accordance with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye signed on , and whose Governing Council last met on . Following the banking crisis of 1931, Austrian National Bank President Viktor Kienböck oversaw an orthodox economic policy paradigm in which he rigorously defended the currency in the face of growing overvaluation. This contributed to a substantial contraction in Austrian GDP. Following the

in 1938, the Austrian National Bank's was liquidated, and its shareholders were forced to accept German government bonds in exchange for their shares. Its operations were taken over by the

Reichsbank The ''Reichsbank'' (; ) was the central bank of the German Empire from 1876 until the end of Nazi Germany in 1945. Background The monetary institutions in Germany had been unsuited for its economic development for several decades before unifica ...

and became the latter's Vienna branch, and the

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛ︁ℳ︁; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945, and in the American, British and French occupied zones of Germany, until 20 June 1948. The Reichsmark was then replace ...

became Austria's currency by German decree of . The former National Bank's gold holdings and foreign currency reserves were moved to Berlin. The Oesterreichische Nationalbank was re-established by the Central Bank Transition Act of of the

Second Austrian Republic The history of Austria covers the history of Austria and its predecessor states. In the late Iron Age Austria was occupied by people of the Hallstatt Celtic culture ( 800 BC), they first organized as a Celtic kingdom referred to by the Romans a ...

. The

Austrian schilling The schilling (German language, German: ''Schilling''; ) is a former currency of Austria from 1925 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1999, and the circulating currency until 2002. The euro was introduced at a fixed parity of €1 = 13.7603 schilling t ...

came back to replace the Reichsmark on . Much of the head office building served as headquarters of the American occupation forces in Austria from 1945 to 1951.

Tasks and composition

The main tasks of the OeNB center on contributing to a stability-oriented

monetary policy Monetary policy is the policy adopted by the monetary authority of a nation to affect monetary and other financial conditions to accomplish broader objectives like high employment and price stability (normally interpreted as a low and stable rat ...

within the Eurozone, safeguarding financial stability in Austria and supplying the general public and the business community in Austria with high-quality, i.e. counterfeit-proof, cash. In addition, the OeNB manages reserve assets, i.e. gold and foreign exchange holdings, with a view to backing the euro in times of crisis, draws up economic analyses, compiles statistical data, is active in international organizations and is responsible for payment systems oversight. Furthermore, the OeNB operates a payment system for the euro, promotes knowledge and understanding among the general public and decision makers owing to its comprehensive communication policy, and supports research in Austria.

Presidents/Governors

External links

Oesterreichische Nationalbank
*

References

{{Authority control

Banking in Austria Buildings and structures in Alsergrund Banks established in 1923 1816 establishments in the Austrian Empire Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor 19th-century architecture in Austria Government-owned companies of Austria

History

Tasks and composition

Presidents/Governors

See also

External links

References