•  The volume of foreign direct investment from the EU-15 in Austria almost quadrupled from 10 billion euro to 38 billion euro over the last ten years, while the volume of Austrian investments within the EU-15 went up nearly five times from 4 billion euro to 19 billion euro.
Austria’s accession to the EU had a considerable impact on the financial services industry and the capital market. In this respect, the EU’s common market served as an important catalyst for the increased refocusing and consolidation efforts the Austrian banking sector made in order to become more competitive.