Supervised accounts could soon be available throughout Austria

The aim is to support the supervising social workers in administering payments, keeping an eye on deadlines and being notified in good time in the event of irregularities. This relieves users of some of the burden of organizing their own finances in a personally difficult life situation.

Now a study by the IHS on behalf of the Erste Foundation, which manages the accounts through the Second Sparkasse, has determined how customers accept them. Result: Users experience clear relief and more security by gaining a structured overview of their expenses, according to the IHS. Reservations, particularly with regard to loss of autonomy, would disappear in practice. According to the IHS study, 95 percent would recommend the account to others. Since the creation of this tool, there have been 3,500 such accounts and currently there are 1,358 users.

“Great project”

“The study shows what a great product the serviced account is,” says study author Florian Spitzer. “Perhaps it should be installed in the other federal states too.” Launched in Vienna, it is already available in four other federal states. “An expansion to the whole of Austria would be desirable,” says Bianca Steinhauer-Kreuzbichler, Head of Managed Account at FSW. Other federal states are interested; expansion is also a question of financing.

“The managed account is a burner,” confirms Rupert Rieder, head of the Second Sparkasse. It can now also be connected to online banking George as soon as customers feel safe and fit. The Erste Foundation is working on expanding the Second Sparkasse to the entire country and thus also the managed account. “It should be possible in the foreseeable future.”