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FAQ

1. How is the Joint Conciliation Board of the Austrian Banking Industry organised?

The Conciliation Board is made up of an impartial ombudsman and the office of the Conciliation Board. The office serves as contact point for complaints and inquiries from bank customers and provides the ombudsman with administrative support.

2. Who currently holds the office of ombudsman?

The ombudsman currently in office is Mr. Herbert BEISTEINER, former ministerial adviser. He is a lawyer and was employed with the Austrian Court of Audit for 37 years, most recently as head of the Bank Audit Department.

3. When can I file a complaint? (jurisdiction of the Conciliation Board)

• Many disputes or misunderstandings can be mutually resolved in direct communication with the respective bank.

Therefore, if you are dissatisfied with any banking service, please check with your bank first.

The rules provide that anyone filing a complaint must at least have tried to reach an agreement with the bank concerned before lodging a complaint with us.

• The Conciliation Board is authorised to try and resolve your complaint on the conditions that it
  • concerns an Austrian bank or an Austrian branch of a foreign bank
    and
  • this bank subscribes to the Conciliation Board.
    and the complaint concerns the following areas (areas of jurisdiction):
    • cash deposits on an account (current account, passbook) and all procedures required to keep an account
    • domestic and cross-border payment transfers (in EU area)
    • internet banking, electronic banking; bank transactions by telephone, e-mail, fax, the internet, etc.
    • transfer of a current account to another bank
    • consumer credit agreements (starting from 12 May 2010)
    • information provided when granting a loan to build, acquire or renovate a freehold flat or a home in private ownership
    • banking transactions using payment cards (TM cards, credit cards, prepaid cards, etc.)

4. Exclusion from arbitration:

Conciliation proceedings cannot be conducted if

• the complaint is already pending before a court or a notified conciliation body or has been brought before a court or a notified conciliation body anytime in the past
• an out-of-court settlement has already been reached
• an application for legal aid has been filed or denied for obvious lack of grounds or lack of prospects of success
• the complainant reports or has reported the case to the police
• the claim asserted by the complainant has already become statute-barred
• the proceedings require a decision that cannot be made without clarification of a legal issue of principal or general importance
• a decision on the complaint can only be made once evidence has been taken, preventing a quick decision

5. Which banks subscribe to the Conciliation Board?

Most of the Austrian banks and a large number of Austrian branch offices of foreign credit institutions subscribe to the Joint Conciliation Board of the Austrian Banking Industry.

6. How about complaints regarding foreign banks?

If your complaint concerns a foreign bank, we will be happy to try and find a competent conciliation body in the country concerned or a contact person and establish initial contact for you. You are free to establish contact yourself, however. FIN-NET

7. How do I file a complaint (become a party to conciliation proceedings)?

• What form requirements are there for my complaint/inquiry?

Send your complaint/inquiry with a brief description of the facts and a copy of all the necessary documents (bank statements, correspondence with the bank, etc.) to the Conciliation Board.

• The declaration of consent is absolutely necessary!
  Your personal details and your bank details are protected by banking secrecy and by virtue of the Austrian Data Protection Act. Therefore, it is necessary for the complainant to submit a declaration of consent before the conciliation proceedings can be initiated.
  

We always require the complainant's personal, original signature on the declaration of consent. Please send this declaration of consent by post. By signing this declaration, you consent (pursuant to the Austrian Data Protection Act 2000) and agree (pursuant to sec. 38 Austrian Banking Act)

• that the bank implicated by the complaint is allowed to disclose your data to the Conciliation Board if important and necessary and
• that the Conciliation Board may use this data in the conciliation proceedings.
• Likewise, you also relieve the bank concerned from its banking secrecy obligation. Only then is the bank authorised to disclose the bank details and documents required for the proceedings to the Joint Conciliation Board and the sectoral or regional conciliation bodies designated by the bank.

• Where do I send my complaint/my inquiry?
  
  Gemeinsame Schlichtungsstelle der Österreichischen Kreditwirtschaft (Joint Conciliation Board of the Austrian Banking Industry)
  Wiedner Hauptstraße 63
  A-1045 Vienna, Austria

By fax: +43/1/505 44 74
By e-mail: office@bankenschlichtung.at

8. What procedure do conciliation proceedings follow?

Conciliation proceedings are governed by the Conciliation Board's Rules of Procedure. We are happy to send you a hard copy of the Rules of Procedure at your request. (available in German only)

• Examination of whether the complaint is admissible
  The ombudsman verifies whether the complaint you submit falls within the jurisdiction of the Conciliation Board. Should the ombudsman decide that the complaint is inadmissible (see "Exceptions from Conciliation") or your complaint does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Conciliation Board, any proceedings already commenced shall be dismissed.

You will of course be informed of this and given the reasons for the denial.

Should the ombudsman decide that the complaint falls within the jurisdiction of the Conciliation Board, conciliation proceedings shall commence.

• Continuation of conciliation proceedings
  

  We confirm the receipt of your complaint.
  At the same time, we will give you a brief description of how the proceedings will continue and ask you, if need be, to provide further documents. Please remember that we require your declaration of consent for the conciliation proceedings. Should you not have sent it along with your complaint, we will remind you to send it.
  Your complaint will be forwarded to the bank concerned or to the sectoral or regional conciliation body previously designated by the bank with a request to respond to your complaint. For this, we usually give the bank a deadline of 6 weeks maximum.
  You will then receive the response of the bank or this Conciliation Board.
  Then you will have the opportunity to respond to this statement within a deadline of 6 weeks.

  By this stage of the proceedings, customer and bank frequently agree to settle the issue.
  If no satisfactory solution is found to resolve your complaint,
  

• the ombudsman renders a conciliation award.
  The ombudsman usually reaches a decision based on the documents presented to him/her in the course of the proceedings. No evidence is taken by the ombudsman. The ombudsman may request supplementary statements and documents from the complainant and the bank to clarify the matter and, if need be, speak to the parties personally.
• The conciliation award
  The ombudsman renders a written conciliation, stating the reasons for the decision.
  If no conciliation award can be rendered, the ombudsman is entitled to propose a settlement.
  

9. How do I find out about the outcome of the proceedings?

Once rendered, we send you the ombudsman's conciliation award or settlement proposal immediately by e-mail, fax or post.

10. Up to which amount is the ombudsman authorised to award?

The ombudsman is not bound to any limit when awarding an amount. (However, see also "Is the ombudsman's conciliation award of a binding nature?")

11. Is the ombudsman's conciliation award of a binding nature?

As complainant, you are entitled to bring claims before the competent court or authorities while the proceedings are ongoing and once they have come to an end.

• If the ombudsman decides in favour of the complainant, the bank is bound to pay an amount of up to € 4,000 under the conciliation award.
• If the ombudsman awards an amount higher than € 4,000, it is for the bank to decide whether to abide by the decision on a voluntary basis.
• You will be informed of this immediately.

As complainant, you are only bound by the conciliation award if you inform us in writing within four weeks of service of the conciliation award that you accept the decision.

Please note however: Should you not accept the conciliation award, the bank shall no longer be bound by it either.

12. What effect does the ombudsman's conciliation award have?
    

If you and the bank are bound by the ombudsman's conciliation award (see "Is the ombudsman's conciliation award of a binding nature?"), it constitutes an out-of-court settlement. The bank is obliged to satisfy the binding conciliation award immediately upon acceptance by the complainant.

If you do not accept the conciliation award, or if the amount awarded is higher than € 4,000 and the bank does not accept the award, it shall not be binding, neither for you nor for the bank concerned.

Either party is then free to call upon an ordinary court of justice.

The ombudsman's decision shall then be deemed a recommendation of an expert authority.

The same applies to any settlement proposal put forward by the ombudsman.

13. What will the conciliation proceedings cost me?
    

Each party bears its own costs and expenses incurred by the conciliation proceedings as well as the costs of representation, if any. No fee as direct contribution to the costs of the Conciliation Board is currently payable.

1. Do I have to reckon with my claims becoming statute-barred due to the proceedings?

Statutory periods of limitation are suspended for the duration of the proceedings and for 4 weeks after receipt of the conciliation award or after dismissal of the proceedings.

1. Are the proceedings confidential?

All customer complaints are strictly confidential.

The ombudsman and all staff of the Conciliation Board are bound to keep confidential vis-à-vis third parties all facts and opinions they become cognizant of in the course of the conciliation proceedings.
The ombudsman's conciliation awards are not published!

16. Is the Conciliation Board in compliance with EU law?

The Joint Conciliation Board of the Austrian Banking Industry complies with the strict EU requirements for conciliation bodies and ombudsmen in the financial services sector. It has been notified by Austria to the European Union and is also a member of FIN-NET, the European Financial Dispute Resolution Network.

We are happy to answer any further questions you may have.