To obtain an Austrian license, the applicant must submit an application form together with the required documentation to the FMA. The FMA will then review the application and determine whether additional information needs to be presented and/or whether the license can be granted. Austrian law generally does not stipulate a certain minimum or maximum assessment period for license applications. In practice, the process for obtaining a banking license takes at least one year.

The documentation requirements depend on the type of license and the nature of the regulated activities. The documentation requirements are typically dependent on, and linked to, the requirements of the relevant authorization (see question 5 above).

The FMA does not have discretion on whether to authorize an entity. If the (formal and material) requirements for an authorization are met, the FMA is required to provide the authorization to the applicant.

Appeals against decisions of the FMA can be filed with the Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht) and ultimately, subject to additional requirements, with the Supreme Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) and/or the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof).

To support ambitious new business models of fintechs, which might be discouraged by the rather formal licensing procedure described above, the FMA initiated a "regulatory sandbox" program in September 2020, under which obtaining a license is facilitated by close support and supervision of the FMA. The aim of this program is to help fintechs on their way to becoming licensed entities, rather than lowering supervisory standards. According to publicly available data, eight fintechs joined the program by the beginning of 2023.