Recommendation 1 Recommendation 2 Recommendation 3 Recommendation 4

Recommendation 5 Recommendation 6 Recommendation 7 Recommendation 8

Market selection

Recommendation 1

Securities Systems* have a primary responsibility to their users** and other stakeholders. They must provide effective low cost processing. Services should be priced equitably.

* Securities Systems = depositories, settlement and clearing systems
** Users = customers of the securities system, and all other parties to whom the securities system owes a duty of care

1.	Is the board that governs the depository answerable to its users?	Since 1965, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank Aktiengesellschaft (OeKB) has been acting as the Central Securities Depository in Austria. OeKB was founded in 1946 to provide certain specialized banking services for the Austrian economy outside routine commercial banking functions. OeKB's main operating areas are export guarantees and financing, capital market activities (such as operating the CSD and the Clearing House for the Vienna Stock Exchange), and information management. These specialised banking services are provided by OeKB as a central institution on a non-competitive and impartial basis in the interest of all parties involved. OeKB's Board of Executive Directors is answerable to the Board of Supervisory Directors and the general meeting of shareholders. The shareholders are, directly or indirectly, exclusively banks and coincide to a large extent with the users of OeKB's specialised banking services. Distribution of the share capital (holdings as of December 31, 2000): CABET-Holding-Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna (Creditanstalt Group) Bank Austria Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna BUBO Handels- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft m.b.H., Vienna (Raiffeisen Banking Group) Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG, Vienna Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, Duesseldorf SKWB Schoellerbank Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna Bank für Kaernten und Steiermark Aktiengesellschaft, Klagenfurt Bank für Tirol und Vorarlberg Aktiengesellschaft, Innsbruck Oberbank AG, Linz Oesterreichische Volksbanken-Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna 24,75 % 16,14 % 8,12 % 5,00 % 12,89 % 10,00 % 8,26 % 5,09 % 2,75 % 2,75 % 2,75 % 1,50 %
2.	Does any single organisation, or sector (e.g. brokers, custodians, Stock Exchange) have a large voting position at the board of the depository?	See above.
3.	Is there cross subsidisation of products (e.g. international services subsidised by local ones or transaction costs subsidised by asset servicing charges)?	The main source of income is derived from safe custody charges. Charges are based on units and nominal value (no ad valorem charges). There is a maximum charge per position for securities held as global certificates. If the total amount of safe custody charges for a customer exceeds a certain limit within one calendar year a charge reduced in steps by a percentage-scheme is applied. Transactions are charged at a fixed price per transaction, depending on whether the instruction is inhouse or cross-border. The charges for cross-border transactions include all third-party costs plus an amount to cover internal costs. If the total amount of transaction-charges for a customer exceeds a certain limit within one calendar year a charge reduced in steps by a percentage-scheme is applied. Upon introduction, every new service is priced based on an expected volume at which it would begin to contribute to overheads.
4.	What process is in place at the depository to ensure that it meets the needs of all its stakeholders (e.g. institutions, broker dealers, retail investors, issuers)?	For market participants using the market infrastructure directly this is achieved at the level of the board by the fact that the shareholders coincide to a large extent with the users of OeKB's specialised banking services. Retail investors are exclusively taken care of by banks and brokers. Their needs have to be met by these institutions.
5.	What is the communications strategy of the depository to its stakeholders and how is this run?	OeKB organises regular meetings at various levels of the management hierarchy attended by representatives of all its main customers. Direct communication between OeKB and its customers is a crucial part of the communications strategy and can be readily achieved due to the relatively low number of customers. To further improve the efficiency of our communications activities a CRM-project has been set up and will be fully implemented by the middle of next year. OeKB's website contains information on all the services and the more important projects. Each project has its own communications strategy tailored to its own specific needs.