Austrian cooperative association: restart with strong managers!

Austrian cooperative association: restart with strong managers!

Österreich - On July 14, 2025, the Austrian Cooperative Association (ÖGV) announced the new occupations in two key positions. Enikö Saurer-Kiss takes over the management of the newly created area for law and advocacy. Your responsibility includes legal expertise at national and international level, especially in the areas of cooperative law as well as banking legislation and regulation. Before that, she worked in the department of a company at a company and in the financial market regulation and at renowned law firms, as [ots.at] (https://www.ots.at/presseaus-sung/ots_2025079/oesterreichischer-sossenschaft-verband-schluesselpositionen- new).

Bernadette Gierlinger has been appointed the new head of the service area for Volksbanken and their participation cooperatives. It is responsible for the central services of the ÖGV, which affect around 500,000 cooperative members. Her focus is on promoting digital innovations. Before her current position, Gierlinger Section head was active in the Ministry of Economic Affairs as well as in managerial functions in the Ministry of Finance and Vamed Engineering.

strong support and future challenges

Peter Haubner, the CEO of the ÖGV, welcomes the new occupations and highlights the high competence of the new leaders. The ÖGV acts as a service and revision association for Volksbanken and commercial cooperatives in Austria. The association is realigned at a time when digital innovations and regulatory challenges are becoming increasingly important.

In this context, an event on the role of digital currencies takes place on the same day. At 6:30 p.m. Gottfried Haber, Vice-GouVerner of the Austrian National Bank, and Peter Brandner, spokesman for the Weis [s] e economy, begin with the greeting. Dirk Niepelt, professor of economics at the University of Bern, will shortly afterwards become a keynote on the topic "CBDC - macroeconomic or political risks?" hold. This discussion is particularly relevant because the importance of digital central bank currencies (DZBG) increases worldwide.

The importance of digital currencies

The international trend shows increased development and acceptance of digital currencies. In recent years, central banks have started to recognize DZBG as future -oriented because they combine the advantages of electronic means of payment with the stability of a central bank. This change also occurs in response to geopolitical changes, such as the sanctions against Russia, which were decided by the G7 countries. The EU and China are working on developing its own DZBG, but with different approaches and progress stamps. The swp-berlin.org highlights that 134 central banks are now examining the introduction of digital currencies worldwide.

Especially China has made progress with the digital Yuan (e-Cny) and started pilot projects since 2020. This system aims to replace cash and is interoperable with private payment systems, while Europe with the digital euro is in an advanced development stage and the test launch is planning at the end of 2025 at the earliest. However, experts fear data protection problems and possible surveillance options that can go hand in hand with the introduction of digital currencies.

Due to these challenges, the development of digital currencies is not only seen as a technological necessity, but also as a decisive means of securing monetary policy sovereignty. The coming months and years could therefore be decisive for how the market for digital money is developing in Europe and beyond.