The Austrian stock market outperformed the rest of the world in Wiener Börse’s 250th anniversary year. The Austrian Traded Index (ATX) Total Return closed on 30 December 2021 at 7,848.78 points, +44% (ATX: 3,861.06 points).
The global stock rally is noticeably awakening interest in equities also in Austria, which has a conservative investment climate. However, more important than looking at the past year is looking at the long-term development of stock markets. Since the start of the calculation, the ATX including dividends has shown an annual average return of 7%.
According to Wiener Börse, financial education is the basis for well-founded investment decisions. Experts from the Vienna Stock Exchange contribute their experience to the “National Financial Education Strategy”, initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance. Teaching material for schools will be further developed.
“Financial education provides the best investor protection and pays off. Every citizen benefits from knowing that return and risk are always in proportion to each other. In this zero-interest phase, overlooking the long-term returns on stock markets of between 7-9 % not only leads to financial losses. Private capital would also strengthen the innovative power of our economy. Austria has more 310 billion euros in collective savings,” said Christoph Boschan, CEO of Wiener Börse AG.
Teaching material for schools will be further developed. Private investors can choose from 30 seminar topics within the Wiener Börse Academy. The orientation webinar series “Börse4you” is free of charge. In January, sessions will be offered via Zoom with a focus on the stock market outlook 2022 and deepening knowledge. Further sessions will take place regularly in 2022.
Listing hub for national and international bonds
Meanwhile, the Vienna Stock Exchange doubled the number of new bond listings in the previous year to over 6,800. Most of the bonds originate from international customers, primarily financial services providers such as BBVA Global Markets, B.V. (subsidiary of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Spain’s second-largest bank) and Marex (British financial services provider in the broking & trading sector). In 2021, KELAG, Verbund and UBM also used the Vienna Stock Exchange as a listing platform for the issue of a green corporate bond. As of 31 December 2021, 10,134 bonds are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, including 9,030 bonds issued by financial institutions, 691 bonds issued by the public sector.
Wiener Börse AG is operating the stock exchanges in Vienna and Prague. Wiener Börse AG also collects and distributes stock market data and calculates the most important indices of the region. Because of this unique know-how the national stock exchanges in Budapest (Hungary), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Zagreb (Croatia) trust its IT services. Additionally, the group holds stakes in energy exchanges and clearing houses.