The Austrian banking industry at the moment is not as sexy as the M&A area, explains CMS Partner Gunther Hanslik.
Indeed, he says, “on a wider scale, this is a quite a difficult time for Austrian banks, still.” Hanslik says that “the crisis which started in 2008 has still not completely abated,” and he points out that the onerous process of selling off the many remaining Hypo Alpe-Adria bank assets continues, which continues to impose huge losses on the Austrian taxpayers —"in the amount of billions and billions of Euros” — despite the recent settlement between the Austrian government and creditors. That settlement was “just to get Carinthia out of trouble,” he says, laughing, but, turning serious, notes that “quite a lot of assets remain to be disposed of.”
In addition, Hanslik says, the other big banking story in Austria at the moment is the recently announced spin-off of the entire CEE business of UniCredit Bank Austria to UniCredit’s Italian mother company. That transition is underway — some employees have already moved to Milan — although it is expected to take eight years to finish. “After those years nothing will be left of UniCredit’s CEE business in Vienna,” he says, "if it goes as expected." Once completed, it will, in Hanslik’s words, leave Bank Austria as a pure Austrian (rather than a CEE) bank, and the CEE activities will be steered out of Italy.”
Hanslik says there’s not much impending or recent legislation of significance expected in Austria, which is traditionally more stable than many of its CEE neighbors, as is the legal market. Nonetheless, “what is noteworthy,” Hanslik says, of the Austrian legal market, is the rise of the Eisenberger & Herzog law firm, which, he says, “has moved up in the ranks quite a bit, especially in the transactional area.” The firm began in Graz — outside the traditional centers of commerce — but it merged with a spin-off from Freshfields several years ago, “and apparently they’re quite successful, and they’ve been growing quite consistently and continuously over the past five years or so.”
In “The Buzz” we interview experts on the legal industry living and working in Central and Eastern Europe to find out what’s happening in the region and what legislative/professional/cultural trends and developments they’re following closely.
