Supervisory Board independence

In accordance with Rule 53 of the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance, the Supervisory Board of VIG has established the following criteria for 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 executing 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 have declared whether they can be considered independent based on the criteria specified by the Supervisory Board. The following members are independent in terms of the points mentioned above: Karl Skyba, Bernhard Backovsky, Martina Dobringer, Maria Kubitschek, Heinz Öhler, Reinhard Ortner, Georg Riedl, Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell.

No member of the Supervisory Board is a shareholder with more than 10% of the shares of the Company.

The following members of the Supervisory Board held Supervisory Board positions or comparable positions in Austrian or foreign companies as of 31 December 2015:

Martina Dobringer
Praktiker AG

Georg Riedl
AT&S Austria Technologie und Systemtechnik AG
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment Plc (until 31 January 2016)

Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell
Commerzbank AG
OMV AG