and their clients. Damaged consumers must in principle sue for any claims for damages in civil courts. However, information and complaints from consumers, investors or creditors against market participants are an important source of information for supervisory activities. The FMA investigates every customer complaint and checks whether it is based on systemic errors. The FMA's complaint management and consumer hotline therefore provide information about the legal options and ensure that all information is checked with regard to relevant undesirable developments or possible violations of supervisory standards. Since a complainant does not have party status in an administrative procedure, the FMA does not provide any information on the progress and outcome of the proceedings because of their obligation to maintain privacy. However, if the complainant also sues under civil law, the court can inspect the files by way of administrative assistance. Complaints about supervised companies can be submitted using a complaint form on the FMA website. Since January 2014, it has also been possible to report abuses or violations of supervisory law in a company that is subject to FMA supervision anonymously via a whistleblower process. International cooperation The FMA is a member of various international bodies, such as: International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR). On November 4, 2014, the European Central Bank assumed direct and indirect supervision for all banks in the euro area. The ECB has shared its supervisory responsibility with the national banking supervisory authorities in accordance with the requirements of the European legislator in the so-called Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). For banks that are subject to the direct supervision of the ECB in the "Single European Supervisory Mechanism" (SSM), a separate resolution authority was created at European level ("Single Resolution Mechanism - SRM"). As the national resolution authority for Austria, the FMA is part of the SRM. Board of Directors Helmut Ettl has been a board member of the FMA since 2008, and Klaus Kumpfmüller became a board member in 2013. After Kumpfmüller was appointed by the supervisory board as the successor to Andreas Mitterlehner, who died in November 2019, as chairman of the Board of HYPO Oberösterreich, it became known that Eduard Müller, a former Austrian finance minister was appointed to the Board of Management on an interim basis. In May 2020, Müller's appointment as a board member of the FMA was confirmed