Banks, Gender

EU opens two new proceedings against Austria

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/pavlofox - stock.adobe.com)

The EU Commission announced on Friday that it would be opening two further infringement proceedings against Austria (and other affected EU countries). The focus is on banks and the gender balance on boards of directors.

According to Brussels, Austria has failed to implement the Equity Chains II Directive on the recovery and resolution of credit institutions. In addition, the directive on the more balanced representation of women and men on company boards has not yet been fully implemented.

Gender balance directive since December 2022
The directive is intended to ensure a better gender balance on company boards and management bodies. According to the EU regulation, 40 percent of non-executive director positions and one third of all director positions in large listed EU companies must be filled by "members of the underrepresented gender". It came into force in December 2022 and had to be transposed into national law by December 28, 2024. In addition to Austria, ten EU states are in default.

Proceedings against 16 other EU states
Full implementation of the Equity Chains II Directive is crucial in order to improve the resolvability of banks and avoid competition problems between differently structured banking groups, emphasizes the Commission. It identified delays in the minimum requirements for own funds and liabilities, for example. The member states had to transpose the EU regulation into national law by November 13, 2024. In addition to Austria, 16 EU states have not done so.

The EU states concerned now have two months to respond to Brussels and fully transpose the directives into national law. If the Commission does not receive a satisfactory response, it may decide to issue a reasoned opinion as the next step in the procedure.