Austrian FMA Reports 14% Growth in Custody Accounts as Neobrokers and Complaints Surge

Key Takeaways

• The Austrian Financial Market Authority's Bank Sales Report 2026 shows securities custody accounts rose 14% to 2.87 million in 2025, driven by digital neobrokers and foreign branches.
• Investment services complaints jumped 70%, and the FMA signaled a focus on a level playing field in supervision, expanded consumer protection, and extended consumer lending powers from November 2026.
• Compliance teams should expect heightened scrutiny of digital sales channels, complaint handling, and fraud controls.

Deep Dive

The Austrian Financial Market Authority's Bank Sales Report 2026 shows securities custody accounts rose 14% to 2.87 million in 2025, driven by digital neobrokers and foreign branches. Investment services complaints jumped 70%, and the FMA signaled a focus on a level playing field in supervision, expanded consumer protection, and extended consumer lending powers from November 2026. Compliance teams should expect heightened scrutiny of digital sales channels, complaint handling, and fraud controls.

The report documents a structural shift in Austrian securities distribution. Custody accounts grew to 2.87 million, and branches of European providers increased their market share to 20% from 13%, taking share from all other sectors. The five largest institutions hold about 43% of accounts (roughly 1.2 million). Net securities commission income rose 15% to EUR $1.87 Billion. For compliance teams, this means securities distribution is increasingly digital, cross-border, and competitive, and supervisory attention will follow.

The report introduces no new binding requirements, but it signals clear supervisory priorities. FMA leadership stressed a "level playing field" so that investors receive the same protection regardless of provider. It also stressed close cooperation with home-country supervisors for cross-border providers within the banking union. Investment services complaints rose 70% to 9,096, against a 17% overall increase to 140,747. Payment transaction complaints reached 50,823 (+12%), while lending complaints fell 8.6% to 30,490. The FMA said it will ensure identified grievances are consistently remedied, and it is expanding consumer information, including on misleading social media content. Firms should expect more inquiries on complaint root causes, appropriateness and information disclosures for advice-free offerings, and marketing and finfluencer exposure.

Two items carry concrete timelines. First, the FMA will receive extended supervisory powers over consumer lending from November 2026, with intensified audit measures planned for 2027. Outstanding consumer loan volume rose 6.8% to EUR $22.5 Billion in 2025. Second, payment fraud is shifting toward fewer but larger cases, with authorized push payment-style scenarios, where victims are deceived into releasing payments themselves, becoming more prominent. This raises expectations for transaction monitoring, customer warnings, and friction controls.

Recommended actions:
- Review complaint management and root-cause analysis, especially for investment services and digital channels, and report trends to senior management.
- Assess app and online onboarding flows, product governance for ETFs and savings plans, and risk warnings for execution-only offerings.
- Review social media and marketing controls for fair, clear, and not misleading communications.
- Prepare consumer lending processes, including creditworthiness assessment and documentation, for expanded FMA powers and 2027 audits.
- Strengthen fraud detection and customer education for socially engineered payments.
- Foreign branches and their home-state supervisors should confirm cross-border coordination and local conduct compliance.

The overall risk impact is moderate to high for digitally focused and cross-border providers, who face the greatest conduct and complaint scrutiny. Incumbents face competitive and supervisory pressure to match digital standards while maintaining equivalent investor protection. Rising complaints and fraud losses add reputational, operational, and potential enforcement risk.

Source: Austrian Financial Market Authority