2023-05-11 15:23:14
Vienna. Christoph Boschan, Chairman of the Vienna Stock Exchange, said at a press conference on the annual balance sheet on Wednesday that the currently high shareholder ratio was achieved “not because of the political environment, but despite this”. Especially against the background of green transformation and the necessary capital base, the importance of investment is growing.
According to the Vienna Stock Exchange, one in four people now own securities in this country, and a fifth of the population is planning an appropriate purchase. Boschan said this is a welcome development, emphasizing that savers can potentially earn high returns when they invest diversified and over a long period of time, but warned that “no one should be complacent”. According to Boschan, there is a challenge to policy that could and should make investing in stocks more attractive, for example, by removing the capital gains tax (KESt) with a longer holding period.
“The biggest change in recent history”
Heimo Scheuch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Vienna Stock Exchange, took a similar approach. Buying and holding shares has “come to the middle of the population”, which is important for securing positions and tackling climate change. Scheuch, who is also the CEO of the Wienerberger building materials group, sees the green transformation as “the biggest change in recent history”. A lot of money is needed to cope with change and this should encourage politicians to facilitate access to the capital market.
Boschan described the past year as a success for the stock market. In 2022, the Group’s share turnover increased by 2.4 percent to 87 billion euros. The consolidated turnover of the Borsa group increased by 0.9 percent to 80 million euros. Earnings before tax (EBT) stood at €47.30m, roughly the same level as the previous year (€47.58m).
Working on digital tool “FirstPlace”
Other initiatives are being considered to secure this success and strengthen the Vienna stock market, according to the manager. For example, the exchange is currently working on the digital tool “FirstPlace,” which will offer private investors direct subscriptions to new issuances in online banking. Among others, Raiffeisen Group, Erste Bank, Oberbank and Wiener Privatbank announced their participation as partner banks. He did not mention a concrete time frame for the introduction of the vehicle.
Boschan expects more activity in public offerings in the near future. Boschan said that in addition to the recent addition of Austriacard and the announcement of the division of Telekom Austria, there are currently other “concrete candidates”. He did not mention any names.
“Wirecard scandal should encourage example”
On the question of whether accounting scandals like those in Wirecard could be covered up in Austria, Wirecard pointed to the high transparency regulations on exchanges. “It was an excellent example of the value of regulated markets. The Wirecard case was regrettable, but similar incidents were observed “ten times more often” in the over-the-counter industry. In addition, Germany learned lessons from this case and adapted its regulations accordingly.” said.
Boschan does not expect a decrease in equity investments due to rising interest rates, which could make other types of investments more interesting again. As the reason, Boschan said, the long-term return on equity is twice as high as the return on debt, and people are becoming more aware of this. (yenivatan.at)
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