Summary
- Austria uses the EPC QR code (locally called "Stuzza QR" or "Zahlen mit Code") as the standard payment QR
- EPS (Electronic Payment Standard) is the dominant online banking payment method since 2001
- Austria was a pioneer in EPC QR development - STUZZA defined the standard in 2012 before EPC adoption
- All major banks support QR code scanning in mobile apps (George, Mein ELBA, etc.)
- Connected to TIPS for pan-European instant payments
Banking landscape
Central Bank
- Name: Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB)
- Website: https://www.oenb.at/
Major Banks (2024)
| Rank |
Bank Name |
Total Assets (EUR) |
Market Share |
Type |
| 1 |
UniCredit Bank Austria AG |
101,630 M |
10.00% |
Joint stock/Private |
| 2 |
Erste Group Bank AG |
~189,000 M |
~18% |
Savings bank (holding) |
| 3 |
Raiffeisen Bank International AG |
82,075 M |
8.08% |
Cooperative |
| 4 |
BAWAG P.S.K. |
~50,000 M |
~5% |
Joint stock |
| 5 |
Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen |
38,830 M |
3.82% |
Savings bank |
| 6 |
Raiffeisenlandesbank OÖ |
~45,000 M |
~4.5% |
Cooperative |
Banking System Structure
Austria has a unique three-tier structure:
- Joint-stock banks (Aktienbanken)
- Savings banks (Sparkassen) - ~31.2% customer share
- Cooperative banks (Raiffeisen, Volksbanken)
Key Organizations
- PSA (Payment Services Austria GmbH): National payment infrastructure operator
- STUZZA: Former payment standards organization (now part of PSA)
- Website: https://www.psa.at/
Payment infrastructure
National Payment Systems
| System |
Operator |
Type |
Status |
| PSA Clearing |
PSA |
Batch clearing |
Active |
| PSA Instant |
PSA |
Instant payments |
Active |
| TIPS |
ECB/Eurosystem |
Pan-European instant |
Connected |
| EPS |
PSA/Banks |
Online banking payments |
Active (since 2001) |
EPS (Electronic Payment Standard)
- Type: Online bank transfer payment method
- Established: 2001 (joint initiative: Austrian government + banks)
- Coverage: All Austrian banks
- Use Cases:
- E-commerce checkout
- Government services (e-government official method)
- Bill payments
- Features:
- Real-time payment confirmation
- Direct bank-to-bank transfer
- Integrated with German Giropay for cross-border
SEPA/TIPS Integration
- Full SEPA compliance
- Direct TIPS participant for instant payments
- Cross-border instant payments enabled
Wero (European Payments Initiative)
Austria is participating in Wero, the new European digital wallet:
- Instant A2A payments via SEPA Instant Credit Transfer
- Pan-European interoperability goal
QR code standards
EPC QR Code / Stuzza QR (Primary Standard)
| Attribute |
Value |
| Standard Name |
EPC QR Code / Stuzza QR / "Zahlen mit Code" |
| Barcode Type |
QR Code |
| Operator |
PSA (formerly STUZZA) / EPC |
| First Defined |
2012 (by STUZZA) |
| EPC Published |
February 2013 |
| Use Case |
Invoices, payment slips, bill payments |
| Adoption |
All major Austrian banks |
Austrian Branding
- Framed with "Zahlen mit Code" text (right side, bottom-up)
- Visual identifier for payment-enabled QR codes
Technical Specifications (BCD Format)
| Line |
Content |
Max Length |
Required |
| 1 |
Service Tag |
3 |
Yes ("BCD") |
| 2 |
Version |
3 |
Yes (001 or 002) |
| 3 |
Character Encoding |
1 |
Yes (1-8) |
| 4 |
Identification |
3 |
Yes ("SCT") |
| 5 |
BIC |
11 |
Conditional* |
| 6 |
Recipient Name |
70 |
Yes |
| 7 |
IBAN |
34 |
Yes |
| 8 |
Amount |
12 |
Optional (EUR format) |
| 9 |
Purpose Code |
4 |
Optional |
| 10 |
Reference (RF) |
35 |
Optional |
| 11 |
Remittance Info |
140 |
Optional |
| 12 |
User Note |
70 |
Optional |
*BIC mandatory in version 001; optional in EEA for version 002
Character Encoding Options
| Code |
Encoding |
| 1 |
UTF-8 |
| 2 |
ISO 8859-1 |
| 3 |
ISO 8859-2 |
| 4 |
ISO 8859-4 |
| 5 |
ISO 8859-5 |
| 6 |
ISO 8859-7 |
| 7 |
ISO 8859-10 |
| 8 |
ISO 8859-15 |
Sample EPC QR Content
BCD
002
1
SCT
BKAUATWW
Musterempfänger GmbH
AT611904300234573201
EUR123.45
SALA
Rechnung 12345
Legacy: Zahlschein Scanning
Austrian banks also support OCR scanning of traditional payment slips (Zahlscheine) with:
- IBAN recognition
- Reference number extraction
- Amount detection
Mobile payment apps
| App Name |
Bank Group |
QR Scan |
QR Generate |
EPS |
Notes |
| George |
Erste/Sparkassen |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Most popular in Austria |
| Mein ELBA |
Raiffeisen |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
"Zahlschein Scan" feature |
| Mobile Banking |
Bank Austria/UniCredit |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Full QR support |
| klar |
BAWAG P.S.K. |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Modern interface |
| Volksbank Mobile |
Volksbanken |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
QR and OCR scan |
George App (Erste/Sparkassen)
- Austria's most modern mobile banking
- QR code scanning for payments
- QR-based device pairing
- George ID activation via QR
- Biometric authentication
Mein ELBA (Raiffeisen)
- Most popular online/mobile banking in Austria
- Features:
- Scan IBAN, payment slips, QR codes
- Create and share QR codes
- Automatic form population
- pushTAN via QR code activation
- 5-digit signature code for authorization
Third-party payment apps
| App Name |
Type |
EPC QR |
EPS |
Integration |
| Google Pay |
Wallet |
Limited |
No |
Card-based |
| Apple Pay |
Wallet |
Limited |
No |
Card-based |
| Bluecode |
Mobile Payment |
Yes |
No |
Austrian banks |
| PayPal |
Online |
No |
Yes |
Via EPS checkout |
| Klarna |
BNPL |
No |
Yes |
Via EPS |
Bluecode
- Austrian-developed mobile payment solution
- QR code-based payments at POS
- Bank account linked
Schemes
Sources
Full country report
AT-austria.md