In accordance with Rule 53 of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance, the Supervisory Board of Vienna Insurance Group has established the following criteria defining independence:

  • The Supervisory Board member has not been a member of the Managing Board or a senior manager of the Company or subsidiary of the Company in the last five years.
  • The Supervisory Board member does not have a business relationship with the Company or a subsidiary of the Company that is of such significant scope for the Supervisory Board member that it affects his or her activities on the Supervisory Board to the detriment of the Company. This also applies to business relationships with companies in which the Supervisory Board member has a significant economic interest. The approval of individual transactions by the Supervisory Board in accordance with § 95(5)(12) of the Austrian Stock Corporation Act (AktG) or § 15(2)(l) of the articles of association does not automatically lead to a classification of non-independence. For the purpose of clarification, it is expressly noted that the purchase or existence of insurance policies with the Company has no adverse effect on independence.
  • The Supervisory Board member has not been an auditor of the Company’s financial statements, or held an ownership interest in or been an employee of the auditing company doing such auditing in the last three years.
  • The Supervisory Board member is not a member of the managing board of another company that has a member of the Company’s Managing Board on its supervisory board.
  • The Supervisory Board member is not a close family member (direct descendant, spouse, partner, parent, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, niece, nephew) of a member of the Managing Board or individuals holding one of the positions described above.

The Supervisory Board as a whole is to be considered independent if at least 50% of the members elected by the General Meeting satisfy the criteria above for independence of a Supervisory Board member.

All members of the Supervisory Board elected by the General Meeting have declared that they can be considered independent in accordance with the criteria specified by the Supervisory Board. No member of the Supervisory Board is a shareholder holding more than 10% of the shares of the Company or represents the interests of such a shareholder.

The following members of the Supervisory Board hold supervisory board positions or comparable positions in Austrian or foreign listed companies as of 31 December 2011:

Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer
CA Immobilien Anlagen AG
Flughafen Wien AG
Telekom Austria AG

Martin Roman
CEZ a.s.