Austrian Bankers Association
The Austrian Bankers Association (Verband österreichischer Banken und Bankiers, short Bankenverband) is the nonprofit association of the credit institutions in Austria that are organized as stock corporations. It has 48 full members and 20 associate members, from UniCredit Bank Austria, BAWAG and Oberbank to private banks and the Vienna branches of foreign banks.
The Bankenverband speaks for its members to the government, the regulators and the European Banking Federation, comments on new rules and negotiates the collective agreement for bank employees. Enver Siručić, CFO and deputy CEO of the BAWAG Group, is president, and Gerald Resch is secretary general.
President and board
The board elected Enver Siručić as president in May 2025. He succeeded Robert Zadrazil of UniCredit Bank Austria, who had held the office since 2016. The presidium (in German) also includes the vice presidents Hélène Buffin of UniCredit Bank Austria, Franz Gasselsberger of Oberbank, Angelika Sommer-Hemetsberger of Oesterreichische Kontrollbank and Werner Zenz of Bankhaus Spängler.
The board has heads of member banks such as BTV, Bank Gutmann, Schoellerbank and the Vienna branches of Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank. The president is elected for three years, the vice presidents for five.
Tasks and services
The Bankenverband takes part in the committees of the European Banking Federation and handles the agenda of the banking section of the Austrian Economic Chamber. It reviews national and European regulation for its members, keeps contact with the central bank and the ministries, and runs an ombudsman office.
For students it runs the school banking game SCHULBANKER and takes part in the European Money Quiz, and each year it awards the Bankenverband prize of EUR 25,000 for academic work on banking and business law. Its 80th general assembly took place at the Urania in Vienna.
Upcoming fintech and finance events in Austria
Who are the members of the Austrian Bankers Association?
48 full and 20 associate members. They include A1 Bank, Addiko Bank, Alpen Privatbank, Bank Gutmann, BAWAG, Oberbank, UniCredit Bank Austria and Austrian branches of banks from Germany, Brazil and China. Raiffeisen banks, savings banks and Volksbanks have their own sector associations.
Is the Bankenverband part of the Austrian Economic Chamber?
No, it is a separate association. It handles the agenda of the chamber's section for banks and bankers, so the two work closely together.
Austrian Bankers Association and Finance Loop
Banks in Austria and Germany work under the same EU rules on tokenized deposits, crypto custody and AI, and the country heads of Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank in Vienna sit on the board of the Bankenverband. Finance Loop brings people from banks in both countries together at its events on digital assets, payments and AI in finance.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the adoption of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.