OeEB (Austria)
- Score:
- 25.0
- Position:
- 19 / 22 (Non-sovereign)
Overview
The Development Bank of Austria (OeEB), is the Austrian development finance institution and wholly-owned subsidiary of Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG (OeKB). It was established in 2008 with the purpose of financing private investment projects in developing countries and emerging markets. It joined the bilateral European Development Finance Institutions Association (EDFI) in 2008.
Analysis
OeEB ranked fourth to last out of the 22 non-sovereign institutions assessed, scoring 25 out of 100. Because its score increased only minimally from 23.4 out of 100 in 2023, it dropped in ranking from 16th to 19th. OeEB’s’s overall performance was negatively affected because it continued to not disclose a bulk download export of investment data and did not publish any investments to the IATI Standard. OeEB performed relatively well in the Impact Management component though, coming joint 9th.
OeEB scored 4.96 out of 20 in the Core Information component, coming second to last out of the 22 non-sovereign portfolios. This marks a decline in ranking since 2023, where it came fourth to last. It failed to score completely on seven of the seventeen indicators, including disclosure/access to information policy, status, domicile, investment instrument, funding source, E&S risk category and progress dates. It continued to drop points for format of publication for many indicators due to there not being a bulk download available and for not publishing to the IATI Standard.
Compared to other components, OeEB performed relatively well in the Impact Management component, scoring 9 out of 25 and ranking joint 9th out of 22. This is a slight drop from 2023, when it ranked 8th. Its performance across all indicators remained unchanged; OeEB earned all of its points from the organisation-level indicators, including those on impact measurement approach, sector/country strategies, and evaluations. It did not score on the project-level indicators in this component.
OeEB came joint fourth to last in the ESG and Accountability to Communities component, scoring 7.67 out of 30 along with four other DFIs. It continued to score 100 per cent for its E&S and project-level grievance (PGM) community disclosure policies. It also continued to scored points for E&S global disclosure policy. However, it continued to not score for any other indicators in this component, including project-level indicators.
In the Financial Information component, OeEB came 14th, scoring 2.15 out of 15. It gained points only for the financial reports/statements indicator, the new climate finance methodology indicator, and the new project-level climate finance indicator, where it scored some points for basic disclosure of whether investments are counted as climate finance.
OeEB came joint 8th in the Financial Intermediary (FI) Sub-Investments indicator, scoring 1.75 alongside ten other non-sovereign institutions assessed. Its score stayed the same as in 2023, when it ranked joint 7th. It did not score for any organisation-level indicators and only scored for the FI (bank) use of funds indicator at the project level.
Recommendations
- OeEB should publish a disclosure or access to information policy, in line with best practices and the DFI Transparency Tool.
- It should publish all of its investments to the IATI Standard.
- OeEB should make investment data available in a bulk download format
- It should disclose further Core Information data including unique identifier, status, sub-sector, total investment cost, disbursement, funding source, client contact, E&S category, disclosure date, approval date, and signature date. It should consistently disclose sub-national location and investment instrument.
- OeEB should publish its approach to determining impact attribution.
- It should disclose project-level Impact Management indicators, including additionality statement, activity indicators/metrics, and results.
- OeEB should disclose project-level ESG and Accountability to Communities indicators, including summary of E&S risks and E&S documentation.
- It should develop an early disclosure policy covering, at a minimum, high-risk projects and disclose investments in line with the policy.
- OeEB should create an independent accountability mechanism (IAM), following best practice examples and incorporate disclosure requirements for an IAM into existing policies.
- It should provide assurance of community disclosure for investments when disclosure is required.
- For Financial Information indicators it should disclose currency of investment, co-financing data, concessionality, mobilisation, and instrument-specific details.
- OeEB should provide more detailed investment climate finance data, including amounts split by mitigation and adaptation finance and climate finance rationales.
- OeEB should create a policy for the disclosure of FI sub-investments in line with Publish What You Fund’s DFI Transparency Tool.