Helmut Ettl surprisingly turns his back on the FMA

This manages the day-to-day operations of the IMF. It consists of 25 directors who approve financial programs for member states, monitor members’ economic policies and provide technical assistance. It also makes decisions on financing to avert balance of payments crises.

There was no official confirmation from the FMA on Monday. Internally, the step seems to have come as quite a surprise; only a few have probably been inaugurated in the past few days.

Ettl (60), who was born in Linz, studied economics and started working with children and youth before joining the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) in 1995. In 2003 he became head of the banking analysis and auditing department and moved to the board of the Financial Markets Authority in 2008. As such, he is also a member of high-ranking EU committees and, since 2023, deputy of the EU banking supervisory authority EBA in Paris.

Marianne Kühnel has been at his side since the summer of last year. Since 2018 she has been deputy general secretary at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ).

Ettl’s career was already on the verge of ending in 2019. At the time, the black-blue federal government had planned to reduce the two-member board to a single board. Ettl, who is considered an SPÖ man, should have gone. Banking supervision would have been merged into the FMA. But nothing came of this when the coalition collapsed as a result of the Ibiza video.