Terms and Conditions – George Business

 

Version: July 2025

These terms govern the use of “George Business.”

 

1. Definitions

Technical Definitions

  • User: An identifier used for logging in and utilizing the functionalities of George Business. Users are created and managed by administrator users within the customer’s company.
  • Administrator User: A user in George Business who belongs to the “Administration” user group and is responsible, on the customer’s side, for assigning all system permissions to all users in George Business.
  • Disposer: An identifier uniquely assigned to a natural person by the credit institution, used to authorize transactions in George Business. Each Disposer is linked to a license.
  • Authorization: The release of orders to the credit institution using the Disposer and the agreed authorization method.

Contractual Definitions

  • The term license is used interchangeably with the term contract in this document.
  • Customer: A legal or natural person who has entered into a contract related to George Business with one or more credit institutions of the Sparkasse Group.
  • Primary License: A contract concluded with one or more credit institutions of the Sparkasse Group that enables the use of George Business with the scope of services listed below.
  • Sublicense: A contract concluded with one or more credit institutions of the Sparkasse Group that allows the customer to use the existing George Business access of another customer (e.g., parent company).

2. Scope of Services

The services of George Business essentially cover the following areas:

  • Accounts
  • Savings
  • Financing
  • Corporate credit cards
  • Guarantees and letters of credit

The following actions are possible with respect to the above-mentioned products:

  • Query, view, and record business data
  • Product and transaction overview
  • Enter and issue payment orders and other instructions
  • Conclude products online
  • Settings / Permission management - including:
    • Management of permissions for all users to access all data of the primary and all sublicense holders, as made available in George Business by the bank issuing the primary license, by the administrator user(s)
    • Management of permissions for data from other institutions integrated into the customer’s George Business access, both within and outside the Erste Bank and Sparkasse sector
    • Management of limits for SEPA instant credit transfers pursuant to Article 1 in conjunction with Article 2(1a) of the SEPA Regulation (EU) 2012/260 by the administrator user(s)
    • Management of settings regarding Verification of Payee for SEPA credit transfers and SEPA instant credit transfers pursuant to Section 38(3), second paragraph of the General Terms and Conditions (GTC) by the administrator user(s)
  • Communication
  • Account configuration services

All details can be found on the credit institution’s website.

 

3. Availability of Use

The customer may use George Business around the clock. However, usage rights may be restricted during maintenance work.

 

4. Liability of the Customer and the Credit Institution

4.1. Customer Liability for Payment Transactions within George Business

4.1.1. If unauthorized payment transactions are based on the misuse of George Business, the customer shall not be reimbursed for the amount (including costs and interest) of the unauthorized transaction if the customer acted fraudulently or intentionally, or if the customer intentionally or with gross negligence violated one or more of the due diligence obligations set forth in these terms.

4.1.2. The customer shall not be liable for payment transactions initiated using a specific payment instrument after the customer has reported the instrument for blocking to the credit institution, unless the customer acted fraudulently.

4.2. Other Liability of the Customer and the Credit Institution

4.2.1. Customers are liable for damages incurred by the credit institution due to a breach of the due diligence obligations set forth in these terms, regardless of the type of fault, and without limitation in amount.

4.2.2. The credit institution shall not be liable if the damage was caused by an independent third party or by an unavoidable event that is not due to a defect in the system or a failure of the credit institution’s automated data processing systems.

4.2.3. The credit institution shall only be liable for any damages related to the customer’s hardware or software or due to the failure to establish a connection with the credit institution’s data center if such damages were caused by the credit institution’s fault.

 

5. Duty of Care

The customer must take all reasonable precautions to protect the personalized security credentials (especially passwords and codes) from unauthorized access.

Payment initiation service providers, account information service providers, and payment service providers issuing card-based payment instruments and performing balance checks are not considered “unauthorized” within the meaning of this provision.

The customer is obliged to follow the user guidance and security instructions provided in the respective application and at the Security Center: https://sicherheit.sparkasse.at.

In the event of loss of the personalized security credentials or if the customer becomes aware that an unauthorized person has gained knowledge of them, the customer must immediately notify the credit institution by phone via the 24h service at +43 (0) 5 0100 and the bank code of their credit institution, or inform their account manager.

The credit institution is entitled to block access to George Business without the customer’s involvement in the following cases:

  • if there are objective reasons related to the security of George Business;
  • if there is suspicion of unauthorized or fraudulent use of George Business or the personalized security credentials;
  • if there is a significantly increased risk that the payer may not be able to fulfill their payment obligations in connection with a linked credit line.

Such a significantly increased risk exists in particular if the customer has failed to meet payment obligations related to a credit line associated with George Business (overdraft or exceeding limits), and:

  • the fulfillment of these obligations is jeopardized due to a deterioration or endangerment of the financial situation of the customer or a co-obligor, or
  • the customer has become insolvent or is imminently at risk of insolvency.

The credit institution will inform the customer of such a block and the reasons for it, as well as of the blocking of access by an account information service provider or payment initiation service provider to a payment account of the customer, in the agreed communication format, preferably in advance, but at the latest immediately after the block. This obligation to inform does not apply if such notification would violate a court or administrative order or conflict with Austrian or EU legal provisions or objective security considerations.

After four failed login attempts using incorrect personalized security credentials, access for the authorized user will be automatically blocked and can be reactivated by the system administrator within the company. A block of the Disposer (person authorized to sign) can only be lifted by the credit institution.

 

6. Insurance Coverage

In addition to the attached insurance terms and conditions: Insurance coverage applies only to accounts held with the credit institution that is the subject of the contract.

 

7. Fees

The one-time activation fee will be debited from the customer’s account after invoicing by the credit institution. The customer’s IBAN is specified in the order.

During the use of George Business, the credit institution is entitled to debit the applicable monthly service fee quarterly in arrears from the IBAN specified in the order.

 

8. Permissions

Disposer: The authorization to issue instructions to the respective credit institution via George Business is granted by the credit institution and may only be issued to persons authorized under the existing agreements (in particular, account holders, signatories according to the signature specimen sheet for payment orders, or persons authorized to represent the company according to the commercial register in connection with guarantees and other instructions).

User: The granting and revocation of authorizations to view product and business data as well as to enter and prepare instructions is carried out directly within the company by the administrator users.

The general authorization to use George Business may only be revoked in writing by the company.

The revocation of the usage authorization becomes effective on the banking business day following the day on which the revocation is received by the office responsible for handling George Business administration.

The credit institution will process the revocation of the usage authorization without delay in accordance with standard banking procedures.

The administrator user is also authorized, on behalf of the customer, to activate or deactivate Verification of Payee for SEPA credit transfers and SEPA instant credit transfers (see Section 38(3), second paragraph of the GTC) and to set specific limits for instant credit transfers. This is subject to the condition that the primary or sublicense holder (e.g., holding-subsidiary structure) is the account holder or their representative.

 

9. Order Placement and Authorization

An order submitted to the credit institution is deemed to have been placed when the agreed authorization method is used.

Order placement is carried out by transmitting data sets. Each order (i.e., the total of account dispositions per transmission in the case of payment orders) requires authorization using the agreed method, which is valid for that specific order only. Once the data has been fully received by the credit institution, the order will be processed in accordance with standard banking procedures.

The credit institution will send acknowledgments upon receipt of orders/instructions, which confirm only the receipt of the transmitted data, not the execution of the orders/instructions. The credit institution is not obliged to obtain any further confirmation of the legal validity of the orders/instructions.

 

10. Verification of Payee under Article 5c of the SEPA Regulation (EU) 2012/260 for Bulk Transfers

Contrary to Section 38(3), second paragraph of the GTC, the credit institution will not perform Verification of Payee for bulk transfers containing more than one payment order as of 09 October 2025, unless the customer explicitly requests it. If desired, the customer must instruct the administrator user to activate this service.

 

11. Direct Debits

The authorization to initiate direct debits requires the separate conclusion of the “Agreement on the Collection of Claims via the SEPA DIRECT DEBIT Core Scheme (SEPA Direct Debit, non-final)” or the “Agreement on the Collection of Claims via the SEPA DIRECT DEBIT B2B Scheme (SEPA Direct Debit, final).”