4. Austria

Key facts on SME financing

As in many EU countries, SMEs contribute substantially to Austria’s economy. In 2017, 99.6% of all firms were SMEs employing approximately 67.4% of the labour force.

The capital structure of SMEs in Austria is traditionally biased towards debt financing, whereas limitations on access to risk-finance are still apparent. Bank lending is therefore an important factor affecting the availability of external financing for SMEs. However, access to finance is generally not a major concern for Austrian SMEs at the moment.

Since 2014, new loans for SMEs have been relatively stable, with a short setback in 2016. As new loans to all enterprises have recovered since 2016, reaching EUR 64.4 billion in 2018, the share of new SME loans in all new business loans decreased slightly to 12.7%. This development is followed by a significant decline in short-term loans (less than 6 months) since 2009. Overall, the annual growth rate of business loans to non-financial corporations has been positive and outperformed the Euro Area.

In Austria, the public sector has established various credit guarantee programmes (e.g. via public promotional banks such as the aws) to increase the willingness of banks to provide loans to SMEs as they transfer the associated risk. Therefore, bank lending to SMEs has been much more resilient and had already recovered pre-crisis levels in 2016. In the light of historically low bank lending rates, debt financing continued to be attractive, supporting lending to the corporate sector. The average base rate on new loans to non-financial corporations up to EUR 1 million, which serves as a proxy for SME interest rates, is declining since the end of 2011 and amounted to 1.82% end of 2018.

In Austria, limitations on access to risk-finance (e.g. Venture Capital) are still apparent and have always been considered to be a particular weakness of the Austrian innovation system. Official data reported by Invest Europe regularly show ups and downs and no clear trend.

In terms of bankruptcies per 1 000 firms, a stable development is recorded since 2015, with a total of 11 cases in 2018. The continuous decline of insolvencies is, however, not only a result of the current favourable economic performance of Austria, but also attributed to the low interest rates, which disproportionally benefit weak-performing, highly indebted companies.

Recent initiatives of the Austrian Government aim at fostering access to finance for innovative, young SMEs and reducing administrative barriers to improve the start-up ecosystem. The aws Digital and Growth Fund will be initiated as a new boost for the Austrian Venture Capital Market to mobilise private venture capital and trigger investments for innovative tech-startups and scale-ups. The digitalisation of various administrative procedures (e.g. e-foundation of companies) was successfully implemented to reduce the administrative burden for companies and startups in particular. The implementation of regulatory sandboxes will reduce the administrative burden for startups and SMEs, so they can try new concepts and products under market conditions within a limited period.

Table 4.1. Scoreboard for Austria, 2010-18
Indicator	Unit	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Debt
Outstanding business loans, total	EUR billion	135.5	138.8	140.4	140.3	136.6	137.2	135.6	143.8	153.0
New business loans, total (flows)	EUR million	74 896	73 041	80 867	73 460	73 126	61 711	55 543	64 418	64 438
New business loans, SMEs (flows)	EUR million	9 414	9 476	9 347	8 884	8 237	8 116	7 499	8 304	8 182
Share of new SME loans	% of total business loans	12.57	12.97	11.56	12.09	11.26	13.15	13.50	12.89	12.70
short-term loans, SMEs (flow)	EUR million	5 139	4 944	4 901	4 536	4 016	3 345	3 010	2 539	1 998
long-term loans, SMEs (flow)	EUR million	4 275	4 532	4 446	4 348	4 221	4 771	4 489	5 765	6 184
Share of short-term SME lending	in %	54.59	52.17	52.43	51.06	48.76	41.21	40.14	30.58	24.42
Government loan guarantees, SMEs	EUR million	173	143	158	167	172	204	192	279	301
Government guaranteed loans, SMEs	EUR million	226	185	207	211	225	258	282	456	441
Government direct loans, SMEs	EUR million	607	633	539	594	490	543	454	649	545
Interest rate, SME, loans up to EUR 1m	in %	2.43	2.92	2.46	2.28	2.27	2.02	1.92	1.80	1.82
Interest rate, large firms, loans over EUR 1m	in %	1.96	2.55	1.98	1.77	1.74	1.61	1.54	1.45	1.38
Interest rate spread	in %	0.47	0.37	0.48	0.51	0.53	0.41	0.38	0.35	0.44
Non-performing loans, total	In %	..	2.71	2.81	2.87	3.74	3.39	2.67	2.37	1.88
Equity
Venture and growth capital (seed, start-up, later stage)	EUR million	43	97	44	59	60	112	57	108	78
Venture and growth capital (growth capital)	EUR million	34	118	29	26	45	85	29	179	46
Venture and growth capital (total)	EUR million	78	216	73	86	105	197	85	287	123
Venture and growth capital (growth rate)	In %	-31.53	177.61	-66.31	17.76	22.56	87.97	-56.63	235.47	-56.94
Other
Payment delays, B2B	Days	11	12	11	12	13	4	4	2	1
Payment delays, B2C	Days	11	11	9	9	9	1	4	1	1
Bankruptcies, total	Number	6 657	6 194	6 266	5 626	5 600	5 422	5 534	5 318	5 224
Bankruptcies, per 1 000 firms	Number	18	17	17	15	15	11	12	11	11
Source: See table 4.4

SMEs in the national economy

As in many EU countries, SMEs contribute substantially to Austria’s economy. In 2017, 99.6% of all firms were SMEs employing approximately 67.4% of the labour force. In general, the biggest sector for SMEs in Austria is “wholesale and retail trade”, accounting for more than one fifth of overall SME value added and employment. It is followed by “professional, scientific and technical activities” and “accommodation and food service activities”.

Table 4.2. Distribution of firms in Austria, 2017
By firm size, as a percentage
Firm size	Number of firms	%	Annual average number of employees	%
All firms	338 948	100	2 966 466	100
SME (0-249)	337 750	99.6	1 998 713	67.4
Micro (0-9)	295 267	87.1	727 567	24.5
Small (10-19)	24 008	7.1	319 810	10.8
Small (20-49)	12 844	3.7	384 295	13.0
Medium (50-249)	5 631	1.7	567 041	19.1
Large (250+)	1 198	0.4	967 753	32.6
Note: Data include all market activities in Sections B - N as well as S-95 of ONACE 2008, Data include non-employer firms.
Source: Statistics Austria (2019).

In general, access to finance is not a major concern for Austrian SMEs in recent years. The capital structure of SMEs in Austria is traditionally biased towards debt financing, whereas limitations on access to risk-finance are still apparent. Due to the fact of Austria being integrated into the Euro area and the European Union, most regulatory or supervisory policies regarding financial markets are decided at the European level. Since 2008, changes in credit finance partly result from increased regulatory requirements on securities/equity of banks (e.g. Basel III) and are in line with common EU developments in this area.

Debt finance

In this country profile, SME loans are approximated by new business loans to non-financial corporations up to EUR 1 million and are provided by the Austrian National Bank. The loan data exclude loans granted to sole proprietors, revolving loans and overdrafts, which are an important source of bank lending to SMEs. Considering these restrictions, the year 2018 saw a slight decrease of 1.5% of new loans to SMEs compared to 2017, which was due to a decline in short-term loans. In general, new loans to SMEs have been rather stable since 2014, with a short setback in 2016. As new loans to all enterprises are recovering since 2016 reaching EUR 64.4 billion in 2018, the share of new SME loans in all new business loans slightly decreased to 12.7%.

The changing conditions have induced a fundamental adaptation of SMEs’ financial structure resulting in an increased importance of long-term financing. According to the data reported by the Austrian national bank, the share of short-term loans (maturity up to 6 months) decreased significantly in the recent years. Since 2009, the share of short-term SME loans in total SME loans had been decreasing from almost 60% to 24.42% in 2018.

Data on outstanding loans are not separated according to firm size and are only available for the total non-financial corporate sector. Induced by monetary policy measures of the ECB, bank lending in Austria has been recovering more quickly than in the euro area since the end of 2013. The annual growth rate of business loans to non-financial corporations has therefore been positive and outperformed the euro area, where the annual growth rate turned positive not before 2015. In the end of 2018, outstanding business loans to non-financial corporations reached a peak of EUR 153.0 billion. in total and an annual growth rate of 7.0% (+3.0% compared to the euro area) (see Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1. Annual growth rates of outstanding business loans to non-financial corporations in Austria and the Euro area, 2010-18

Monthly data, percentage change

Note: Annual change in stocks adjusted by exchange rate adjustments, write-downs, loan transfers and reclassifications.

Source: Austrian National Bank (2019).

 StatLink https://doi.org/10.1787/888934116205

In Austria, like in most European countries, SMEs rely on bank funding (credit lines and loans) as their primary source of external finance (approx. 60%). Bank lending is therefore an important factor affecting the availability of external financing for SMEs. In general, SMEs have to face a higher risk-premium and tighter lending criteria (such as collateral requirements) compared to larger firms. This can be explained by higher information asymmetries (e.g. lack of reliable and timely information) leading to higher monitoring costs. As equity ratios in companies rise with the size of their balance sheets, SMEs by definition tend to have a higher default risk as well.

In Austria, the public sector has established various credit guarantee programs (e.g. via public promotional banks such as the aws) to increase the willingness of banks to provide loans to SMEs as they transfer the associated risk. Therefore, bank lending to SMEs has been much more resilient and already reached pre-crisis level again in 2016.

According to the Survey on the access to finance of enterprises (SAFE) of the European Commission from November 2018, bank lending in the EU28 has seen significant net improvements since 2015. In 2018, 19% of European SMEs indicated an improvement in the actual availability of bank loans versus 8% that reported a deterioration. The proportion of European SMEs that applied for a bank loan - or did not do so due to various reasons - as well as the corresponding success rates remained stable compared to 2017. In 2018, 23% of Austrian SMEs applied for a bank loan and were in line with the average of European SMEs (EU: 25%). Only 4% of Austrian SMEs had not applied for a bank loan because they feared their application would be rejected (EU: 5%). Of those SMEs that applied for bank loans, only 2% were rejected by the banks (EU: 5%), whereas 82% received the full amount they had applied for (EU: 73%). Compared to other euro area countries, these figures of the Austrian credit market are quite favorable. In general, the SAFE survey 2018 confirmed that access to finance is a lesser concern to Austrian SMEs with only 5% (EU: 7%) of domestic respondents naming this as their most pressing problem.

This is in line with data from the Austrian National Bank. Historically low bank lending rates continued to support lending to the corporate sector in Austria. This reflects the current monetary policy of the ECB as well as narrower interest rate margins for average loans due to the competitive situation in the Austrian banking sector. The interest margins on riskier loans were however increased. Other costs of bank financing (e.g. charges, fees, commissions) as well as collateral requirements remained broadly unchanged in 2018. An annual survey commissioned by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (aws) with a focus on SME financing found that in 3 out of 4 cases a lack of collateral was responsible for loan rejections or cutbacks.

Overall, bank lending has been rather stable over the past few years, and the lending conditions did not discourage many potential borrowers. In 2009, right after the economic and financial crisis, the rejection rate in Austria was 6%, with 18% not getting the fully planned financing. In 2018, the rejection rate dropped down to 2% and 13% did not receive the fully planned financing volume.

Therefore, debt instruments again provided the bulk of nonfinancial corporations’ external financing in 2018. In the light of low interest rates, debt financing continued to be attractive supporting lending to the corporate sector. The average base rate on new loans to non-financial corporations up to EUR 1 million, which serves as a proxy for SME interest rates, is declining since the end of 2011 and amounted to 1.82% end of 2018. The spread between SME loans and loans to large firms has been rather stable over the last years and averaged 44 basis points (0.44%) in 2018.

Non-bank finance (Equity finance)

The access to funding for young, innovative SMEs has to be regarded differently as their risk profile and their capital structure require different financing approaches compared to funding for traditional SMEs. Creditors and investors treat small, innovative, young firms differently due to their elevated risk profile, missing track record and the high share of intangible capital in their assets, which hardly can be valued by standardised approaches.

Innovative SMEs and start-ups tend to look for risk capital or Venture Capital in the form of equity stakes as their business models are risky and can hardly cover pre-specified repayment schedules, maturities and interest rates regardless of their success. Due to the lack of economies of scale, significant transaction costs and resource-consuming investor relations, debt funding via capital market by issuing bonds or commercial paper is not an option to most SMEs. In addition, the size of their financing needs makes SMEs unattractive to institutional investors like pension funds or insurance companies, which tend to look for large single investment opportunities (at least EUR 5-10 million). Besides this, SMEs in Austria as well as in Europe often refrain from equity funding, because they are concerned about loss of control.

In Austria, limitations on access to risk-finance (e.g. Venture Capital) are still apparent and have always been considered to be a particular weakness of the Austrian innovation system. Since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2008, the Austrian Private Equity/Venture Capital sector was struck by a withdrawal of most of its institutional private investors - particularly banks, insurance companies and family offices - leading to the current market breakdown.

Official data reported by Invest Europe regularly show ups and downs and no clear trend toward an ever increasing market size. This volatility is clearly visible in Table 4.3, where total venture and growth capital slumped in 2016 to almost EUR 86 million after a peak of EUR 197 million in 2015, and immediately recovered in 2017 reaching an all-time high of EUR 287 million.

Table 4.3. Venture and growth capital investments in Austria, 2007-18
By investment stage, in EUR million
Stage	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
Seed	6.4	6.0	10.4	9.2	11.5	11.0	10.4	4.1	13.8	2.7
Start-up	41.0	15.7	35.2	24.7	21.1	17.3	32.5	33.3	63.8	31.0
Later stage venture	27.2	21.6	51.7	9.8	26.8	31.3	69.5	19.6	30.3	44.0
Total venture	74.6	43.3	97.3	43.7	59.4	59.6	112.4	57.0	107.9	77.7
Growth capital	38.9	34.3	118.4	29.0	26.2	45.2	84.7	28.6	179.0	45.7
Total venture and growth capital	113.5	77.6	215.7	72.7	85.6	104.8	197.1	85.6	286.9	123.4
Other (rescue / turnaround, replacement capital, buyout)	66.5	635.3	96.6	358.4	466.1	216.7	956.5	35.8	132.3	808.0
Source: Invest Europe (2019)

Similar to most (smaller) European countries, the characteristics of the Austrian Private Equity/Venture Capital market are (1) high volatility in branch-distribution of investments and (2) high volatility of the amount (investment-size) invested in Austrian portfolio companies. Due to the relatively small total market volume, large single investments - mostly in the Buyout segment - have disproportional effects. In 2018, the buyout segment accounted for only 9.1% of investments in Austrian companies (or: 7 companies), but totalled 86.7% of the total invested risk-capital market volume.

Nevertheless, active investments of international investors might be an indicator for the continuing demand of Austrian companies in risk capital (PE and VC), high quality of investment opportunities for institutional investors in Austria and a high quality of deal pipeline/potent SME to invest in. In 2018, the share of Domestic Investments from Austrian Risk-capital Funds was approximately 5% (2017: 10.5%).

An annual survey commissioned by the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (aws) with a focus on SME financing shows that in 2018, 6.6% of the respondents (2017: 6.6%) used alternative forms of financing (venture capital, mezzanine capital, silent partnerships, business angels or crowdfunding). The survey also points to an increasing interest in alternative sources of financing, with 20.7% (2017: 15.8%) of the respondents planning to use these types of financing in the future.

Based on the characteristics of the Austrian risk-capital market, three main challenges can be identified: 1) Increasing the mobilisation of private risk capital to enable a continuous and successful fundraising, 2) Scaling-up of Austrian-based risk-capital investment companies, 3) Reducing the high volatility of investments to stabilise the market volume.

Other indicators

In March 2013, the Austrian Parliament introduced the late payment act, implementing the EU Directive on Combating Late Payment in Commercial Transactions. The act aims to improve the payment behaviour by introducing new due dates and increased interest rates. The European Payment Index shows that in general, the payment behaviour - B2B as well as B2C - in Austria is well above the EU average. On average, the time limits for payments for B2B (2018: 23 days) are longer than for B2C (2018: 16 days) customers in Austria. In 2018, the average number of B2B payment delays decreased slightly by 1 day and is now at +1 day. The average number of B2C payment delays remained unchanged at +1 day.

According to the Insolvency Statistic 2018 published by Creditreform, Bankruptcies in Austria stood at 5.224 in 2018 (2017: - 1.77%), reaching the lowest level in the period 2007-18 with the peak of 7.076 cases in 2009. Since 2015, a stable development is recorded in terms of bankruptcies per 1 000 firms remaining at 11 cases in 2018. In general, the continuous decline of insolvencies is not only a result of the current favourable economic performance of Austria, but also attributed to the low interest rates, which disproportionally benefits weak performing, highly indebted companies.

Government policy response

In Austria, several institutions at the federal as well as on the state level provide financial support for businesses. This section focuses on federal institutions providing loan guarantees and/or direct lending to SMEs. The Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (aws) serves as the federal promotional bank and offers Austrian enterprises financial support in the form of loans (via the ERP-Fund), guarantees, grants and equity, as well as consulting services. The Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft GmbH (FFG) is the national funding institution for applied research and development and provides grants, loans, guarantees and consulting services. The Oesterreichische Hotel- und Tourismusbank (ÖHT) is owned by private banks and is specialised in financing and promoting investments in the field of tourism by means of loans, guarantees and grants, which are supported by the government.

The ERP Fund1 (European Recovery Programme Fund) was established in 1962 and provides soft loans (erp loans) with reduced interest rates via commercial banks to new and existing businesses in the areas of technology assistance, implementation of research and technological development initiatives, and establishment of pilot and demonstration facilities. It is organised as a separate legal entity and is organisationally integrated into the aws since 2002. The ÖHT serves as the trust bank of the ERP Fund in the tourism sector. The erp-annual working programme adopted by the Austrian Federal Government sets up the underlying conditions of the erp-loan programmes. Currently, the credit line volume for erp-loans is capped up to a total of EUR 600 million. On average, 95 % of the beneficiaries are SMEs, and from that about 50% are micro and small companies. In 2018, the total available volume of erp-loans (EUR 600 million) was committed to Austrian-based companies and out of that approximately EUR 465 million to SMEs.

Besides erp loans, ÖHT also grants various loan programmes such as erp-loans, so called “Top-A loans” or ‘impulse’ loans to SMEs seeking capital for investments in the tourism and leisure sector. These loans aim at supporting small as well as large investment projects to increase the competitiveness and long-term development of companies. In general, a combination with a government guarantee programmes is possible. In line with the EU state aid regulation, the respective state government (regional level) can provide additional benefits such as subsidized interest rates on the loan.

The FFG, as well as several institutions at the regional level also engage in direct lending to SMEs. Based on the data provided by the federal institutions aws, FFG and ÖHT, a total volume of EUR 545 million of new direct loans were granted to SMEs in 2018.

Loan guarantees

The Austrian federal promotional bank aws facilitate access to finance for new ventures, innovation projects and growth spurts with loan guarantee programmes in order to compensate for missing of insufficient bank loans. In line with EU State Aid Regulation, the guarantees are funded with government support, in most cases (approx. 70%) complemented by a counter-guarantee of the EIF (e.g. COSME; InnovFin), and can be combined with erp-loans. In general, the aws guarantees up to 80% of the total loan amount. The aws funds are channelled through existing aws guarantee products designed for SME loans, the promotion of SME innovation, micro credits and investments in Austria.

Since 2014, SME loan guarantees provided by aws have a stronger focus on young innovative entrepreneurs. In respect of the principle of 2^nd chance, entrepreneurs that have failed are not automatically excluded from subsidies and gain support for restructuring and re-launch. Furthermore, a shift from grants to guarantee programmes, as well as the combination with EU financial instruments increased the attractiveness of aws loan guarantees (e.g. reduced guarantee fees).

The interaction of national initiatives with European Union (EU) programmes such as COSME, HORIZON 2020 and EFSI are essential for facilitating access to finance especially for SMEs. Since 1998, the aws fosters cooperation with the EIB/EIF in various programmes to increase the attractiveness of the national portfolio and reduce existing market failures. The aws has therefore signed various counter-guarantee agreements with the EIF (e.g. under InnovFin/HORIZON 2020, COSME and EFSI) allowing the Austrian federal promotional bank to increase its guarantee volumes to SMEs with limited collateral and innovative mid-caps. One key element of this agreement is that the aws has to ensure additionality, which means that all benefits resulting from this agreement have to be transferred to the respective company. The combination with EU financial instruments increases the attractiveness of aws loan guarantees (e.g. due to reduced guarantee fees) and is therefore an important tool for Austria to facilitate access to finance for SMEs.

Loan guarantees granted by ÖHT are counter-guaranteed by the Government. The guarantees cover loans from commercial banks, but can also be combined with erp-loans and TOP-A loans granted by ÖHT. To a lesser extent, loan guarantees are also provided by the FFG. In 2018, more than EUR 300 million in total of government loan guarantees provided by Austrian federal institutions were committed to SMEs to facilitate access to finance supporting their projects (see Table 4.4).

Table 4.4. Government loan guarantees In Austria, 2010-18
In EUR million, flows
Institution	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
aws	152.0	127.0	139.0	131.0	129.0	174.0	162.4	229.2	273.5
ÖHT	20.4	14.1	18.3	34.2	42.3	30	44.4	49.2	26.7
FFG	0.6	1.5	0.5	2.1	1.0	0.4	1.0	0.9	0.6
Total	173.0	142.6	157.8	167.3	172.3	197.4	207.8	279.3	300.8
Source: aws, ÖHT, FFG

Risk capital

In order to stimulate the development of a well-functioning market for risk capital, the Austrian federal government implemented various innovative policy approaches to stimulate the development of a well-functioning risk capital market. This includes public financed Venture Capital Funds, Fund-of-Fund programmes as well as legislative measures (e.g. Law on Crowdfunding).

Overall, these public initiatives are primarily focused on mobilising private risk capital to enhance access to finance for young, innovative Small and Medium Enterprises in the early and growth stages and improve therefore their long-term financial stability. To eliminate any state aid component, the public financed initiatives are carried out by subsidiaries of the Austrian Federal Promotional Bank "Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws)". In the long run, existing "financial gaps" in traditional debt financing instruments (e.g. loans) should be removed and the actual "market failure" should be reduced.

aws Digital and Growth Fund

In May 2019, the Austrian Government announced a start-up package including a series of measures aiming to position Austria as a more attractive location for start-ups. Amongst them, a new „aws Digital and Growth Fund“ will be initiated as a new boost for the non-dynamic Austrian Venture Capital Market to mobilise private risk capital and trigger investments for innovative tech-startups and scale-ups. This new Venture Capital Fund should reach a total fund volume of EUR 100 million and will include public as well as private capital investments (50:50). In total, EUR 600 million investments in innovative tech start-ups and scale-ups should be leveraged.

New capital market segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange:

In January 2019, the Vienna Stock Exchange launched the new market segment “direct market plus” as a first and easy access to the capital market. This segment addresses particularly small and medium enterprises and offers therefore low stock exchange fees and less strict listing requirements. From the very start, eight companies are already listed on this new segment of the Vienna Stock Exchange. In the long run, the Austrian Capital Market should be an additional instrument for improving access to finance for SMEs - particularly for later stage and large growth investments

Regulatory framework

Digitalisation of administrative procedures:

Digitalisation has turned the page and changed the way we live. It is not anymore a challenge we face in the future; it is neither a technology niche nor a way of doing business only by multi-national corporations. Various initiatives were therefore successfully implemented to reduce the administrative burden for companies and startups in particular. They can now use their energy and time resources to develop ideas and problem solutions.

• The platform “oesterreich.gv.at” enables the digitalisation of administrative procedures for citizens and companies. (Local) Authorities and various register are electronically linked (e.g.: registration at the commercial register // registration of a trade // social security // tax and revenue office);

• The startup process of companies including the e-foundation of limited companies is completely digitalised since January 2019.

Implementation of regulatory sandboxes:

Frequently, new business models and products of startups simply do not fit into the existing regulatory framework, creating an additional barrier for innovation and growth. On the other side, it might not always be appropriate to adapt proven regulatory standards and regulations without assessing possible effects or risks. In order to reduce the administrative burden for startups and SMEs, it is therefore planned to create a limited pre-defined regulatory environment - a so-called “regulatory sandbox”, where they can try new concepts and products under market conditions within a limited period. A first “regulatory sandbox” for FinTechs is currently under review.

New training formats for employees of startups

Combined educational training centers for trainees/apprentices will reduce the costs for Startups to train their staff accordingly. This initiative focusses directly on the existing lack of skilled workforce in Austria and reduces the financial burden for Startups, when educating young trainees for specialized ICT-jobs such as coding, application development, e-commerce.

"Once-Only"-principle for companies

Due to an increased interconnection of authorities or registers, companies should submit relevant (administrative) information „once-only“ leading to a noticeable easing of Startups and companies - less time-consuming as well as financially.

Box 4.1. Definition of Austrian SMEs

In Austria, SMEs are classified according to the EU definition (2003/361/EC): Firms with less than 250 employees and annual turnover below EUR 50 million and/ or balance sheet total below EUR 43 million.

The National Bank of Austria does not classify data on business lending by firm size. SME loans and interest rates are approximated by loans up to EUR 1 million.

Figure 4.2. Trends in SME and entrepreneurship finance in Austria

Source: See Table 4.5.

 StatLink https://doi.org/10.1787/888934116224

Table 4.5. Definitions and sources of indicators for Austria´s scoreboard
Indicator	Definition	Source
Debt
Outstanding business loans, total	Loans granted to the corporate sector by a sample of 103 Austrian banks	Austrian National Bank
Business loans, SMEs	New business loans to non-financial corporations granted by a sample of 103 Banks, the data exclude overdrafts, revolving loans, securitised loans and loans to sole proprietors; loan size up to EUR 1 million	Austrian National Bank
Business loans, total	New business loans to non-financial corporations granted by a sample of 103 Banks; the data exclude overdrafts, revolving loans, securitised loans and loans to sole proprietors	Austrian National Bank
Long-term loans, SME	New business loans to non-financial corporations granted by a sample of 103 Banks; the data exclude overdrafts, revolving loans, securitised loans and loans to sole proprietors, loan size up to EUR 1 million and original maturity over 6 months	Austrian National Bank
Short-term loans, SMEs	New business loans to non-financial corporations granted by a sample of 103 Banks; the data exclude overdrafts, revolving loans, securitised loans and loans to sole proprietors; loan size up to EUR 1 million and original maturity up to 6 months	Austrian National Bank
Government loan guarantees, SMEs	Loan guarantees granted to SMEs (defined as firms with less than 250 employees) proxied by loan guarantees from aws, ÖHT and FFG, flows	Administrative data from Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH, Österreichische Hotel- und Tourismusbank; Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft GmbH
Government guaranteed loans, SMEs	New loans to SMEs (defined as firms with less than 250 employees) covered by guarantees from aws, ÖHT, FFG, including erp-loans, flows	Administrative data from Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH, Österreichische Hotel- und Tourismusbank GmbH; Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft GmbH
Government direct loans, SMEs	New loans to SMEs (defined as firms with less than 250 employees) provided by the ERP-Fund, ÖHT, FFG, flows	Administrative data from Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH, Österreichische Hotel- und Tourismusbank; Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft GmbH,
Interest rate, SMEs	Average interest rate for new business loans to non-financial corporations; the data exclude overdrafts, revolving loans, securitised loans and loans to sole proprietors, loan size up to EUR 1 million	Austrian National Bank
Interest rate, large firms	Average interest rate for new business loans to non-financial corporations; the data exclude overdrafts, revolving loans, securitised loans and loans to sole proprietors, loan size over EUR 1 million	Austrian National Bank
Interest rate spread	Difference between interest rates for new business loans to non-financial corporations; loan size up to EUR 1 million and over EUR 1 million	Austrian National Bank
Percentage of SME loan applications	ECB, Statistical Data Warehouse, "SAFE" Survey	ECB/European Commission, Survey on the Access to Finance
Rejection rate	ECB, Statistical Data Warehouse, "SAFE" Survey,	ECB/European Commission, Survey on the Access to Finance
Non-performing loans	Percentage of non-performing loans in relation to total outstanding business loans	Austrian National Bank
Equity
Venture and growth capital	Venture and growth capital invested in Austrian firms, including seed, start-up, later-stage venture and growth capital (market statistics), all firms	Invest Europe
Other
Payment delays business to business	Average number of days for business to business, all firms	Intrum AB; European Payment Report
Payment delays business to consumer	Average number of days for business to consumer, all firms	Intrum AB; European Payment Report
Bankruptcies, total	Total number of companies filed for insolvency; total and per 1 000 enterprises,	Creditreform

References

Austrian National Bank (2018) “Financial Stability Report 36” (November 2018), https://www.oenb.at/en/Publications/Financial-Market/Financial-Stability-Report.html

Austrian National Bank (2019) “Financial Stability Report 37” (June 2019), https://www.oenb.at/en/Publications/Financial-Market/Financial-Stability-Report.html

Creditreform (2019): “Insolvenzstatistik 2018”, https://www.creditreform.at/presse/insolvenzstatistik-oesterreich.html

European Commission (2018) “Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises - Analytical Report 2018”, https://ec.europa.eu/growth/access-to-finance/data-surveys_en

Intrum AB (2019): “European Payment Report 2018”, https://www.intrum.com/press/publications/publications-archive/

Invest Europe (2019) “European Private Equity Activity Report and Data 2018”, http://www.investeurope.eu/research/activity-data/annual-activity-statistics/

Statistics Austria (2019) “Leistungs- und Strukturstatistik 2017 - Hauptergebnisse nach Beschäftigtengrößenklassen” (Structural Business Statistics 2017),

https://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/wirtschaft/produktion_und_bauwesen/leistungs_und_strukturdaten/index.htm

Note

← 1. It is a government-run service organisation which is funded by grants given to Austria under the Marshall Plan by the United States of America