Criteria of the independence of members of the Supervisory Board
In compliance with Rule C 53 of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance (ÖCGK), the Supervisory Board defined guideline criteria to ensure its members’ independence in conformity with the provisions of the Code.
- A Supervisory Board member shall be considered independent if he or she has not served as a member of the Management Board or as a member of the management-level staff of the Company or one of its subsidiaries in the past three years.
- A previous Management Board membership shall not be deemed to qualify a person as not independent in particular if, subject to the provision that all circumstances within the meaning of Article 87(2) of the Stock Exchange Act (AktG) apply, there is no doubt as to the independent exercise of the mandate.
- The Supervisory Board member shall not maintain or have maintained, in the past year, any business relations with the Company or one of its subsidiaries to an extent of significance for such member of the Supervisory Board. This shall also apply to relationships with companies in which the Supervisory Board member has a considerable economic interest. The approval of individual business transactions by the Supervisory Board in accordance with L Rule 48 shall not automatically qualify a person as not independent. The conclusion or existence of agreements with the Company that are customary in banking shall not be deemed to prejudice the Supervisory Board member’s independence.
- The Supervisory Board member shall not have acted as auditor of the Company or have owned a share in the auditing company or worked there as an employee in the past three years.
- The Supervisory Board member shall not be a member of the management board of another company in which a member of the Management Board of the Company is a supervisory board member unless the two companies are part of the same group or are associated with one another through a shareholding.
- The Supervisory Board member shall not be closely related (direct offspring, spouses, life partners, parents, uncles, aunts, sisters, nieces, nephews) with a member of the Management Board or with persons who hold one of the positions described in the foregoing items.