TRDigital accessibility in Austria's banking sector, 2026
An automated WCAG 2.2 assessment of 31 bank homepages, one year after the Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG) began to apply.
Since 28 June 2025, banks in Austria have been required to make their online services accessible. We scanned the homepages of 31 banks operating in Austria against WCAG 2.2 and classified every automatically detected barrier by criterion, principle and level. 24 homepages have at least one barrier at Level A or AA, 221 in total. The problem is concentrated: seven banks account for 57% of all barriers, while seven show none. Most barriers are the same error repeated, which makes the gap narrower than the headline figure suggests.
1Key findings
- 45%
Barriers concentrate in the Perceivable principle. 100 of 221 barriers fall under Perceivable, and 20 of 31 sites have at least one.
- 14 / 31
Screen reader users get stuck on almost half of the sites. Buttons and links without an accessible name, or with ARIA attributes that do not fit their role, account for 89 barriers.
- 57%
A few banks carry most of the problem. The seven sites with the most barriers hold 57% of the total; seven other sites showed no A or AA barrier.
- 79%
Barriers are mostly repetition. On 14 of the 24 affected sites, a single error type makes up at least half of the barriers.
- 31 / 31
Touch areas are tight on mobile. Six sites fail the AA target size; at the stricter AAA level, every site has targets below 44 × 44 px.
2Methodology
- STEP 01Select31 banks operating in Austria.
- STEP 02ScanEach homepage against WCAG 2.2 on 15 October 2026, with the same tool version.
- STEP 03ClassifyEvery barrier tagged by criterion, principle and level.
- STEP 04AnalyseResults grouped by topic and sector. No bank is named or ranked.
Scope note. The accessibility data in this report is calculated from each bank's homepage only. Pages behind login, subpages, mobile apps and documents are out of scope; results do not represent a bank's digital channels as a whole.
Standard disclosure
Automated testing in this study detects only a subset of WCAG 2.2 failures. A clean automated result does not mean a site is accessible or conformant. Barriers under the Understandable principle, such as unclear instructions or unhelpful error messages, and the real behaviour of interactive components can only be assessed through manual review, which is outside the scope of this report. Findings describe detectable barriers, not legal compliance.
3Results
3.1 Barriers by WCAG principle
WCAG groups its requirements under four principles. On Austrian bank homepages, almost half of all barriers are Perceivable, and almost a third are Robust: controls that assistive technology cannot identify.
Almost half of all barriers are Perceivable
Share of 221 barriers, with the number of sites affected
Two thirds are Level A
Level A is the most basic level of WCAG
Two issues make up all AA barriers
Composition of the 73 Level AA barriers
3.2 Barriers by topic
Nearly half of banks have screen reader barriers
Bank homepages failing each topic, shown per 10 sites
Screen readers. The most common barrier is a control without an accessible name, or one whose ARIA attributes do not fit its role. A screen reader then announces it only as "button" or "link".
Page structure. 22 of the 44 structure barriers come from one pattern: elements given a "presentation" role that still contain meaningful content. Empty headings and badly built lists also appear.
Contrast. The 42 contrast barriers appear on nine sites, but 26 of them sit on just two. Contrast is concentrated in a few designs rather than spread across the sector.
3.3 Distribution across banks
Seven banks show no barriers, eight have more than ten
Number of bank homepages by count of A and AA barriers
of all barriers are held by the 7 banks with the most
of barriers repeat an error already present on the same site
median barriers per 100 elements examined (range 0 to 6.7)
4Priorities for remediation
Five targeted fixes cover 220 of the 221 barriers detected. The coverage column shows the cumulative share once each fix is added to those above it.
| # | Fix | Barriers · sites | Who benefits | Cumulative coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Give buttons and links an accessible nameWCAG 4.1.2 · 2.4.4 | 89 · 14 sites | Screen reader users | |
| 2 | Code page structure correctlyWCAG 1.3.1 | 44 · 11 sites | Screen reader users | |
| 3 | Fix weak contrastWCAG 1.4.3 | 42 · 9 sites | Low vision, older users | |
| 4 | Make touch targets at least 24 pxWCAG 2.5.8 | 31 · 6 sites | Mobile, motor impaired | |
| 5 | Add text alternatives to imagesWCAG 1.1.1 | 14 · 6 sites | Blind users |
The same fixes pay off beyond compliance: meaningful names and clean structure help search engines and software tools interpret a page, and better contrast improves readability for every customer.
Beyond Level AA
Level AAA is not required by most regulations and is kept out of the main figures. It shows whether a site that passes AA is truly comfortable to use.
sites have touch targets below 44 × 44 px; 1,052 targets in total.
sites with no barriers still carry AAA warnings, 25 to 84 per site.
sites open links in a new tab without warning.
5Regulatory context
Since 28 June 2025, the BaFG has made digital accessibility binding for banks in Austria. In its first year, banking was the area market surveillance examined most often.
From equal treatment to enforced obligation
Milestones for digital accessibility in Austrian banking
- Jan 2006
Federal Disability Equality Act (BGStG) in force
- Apr 2019
EU adopts the European Accessibility Act directive
- 2023
BaFG adopted (BGBl. I No. 76/2023)
- Jun 2025
BaFG and EAA apply to consumer banking services
- Jun 2026
First year: 84 cases opened, 22 of them concerning banks
- Sep 2026
EN 301 549 v4.1.1 published, moving to WCAG 2.2
- Jun 2030
Transition ends for systems in use before 2025
Scope
Consumer banking services are in scope, including websites and mobile apps. Continued violations can lead to fines of up to EUR 80,000.
Supervision
84 cases in the first year; banking was examined most often, with 22 bank cases pending. No fines so far.
Technical basis
Builds on WCAG Levels A and AA. v3.2.1 applies until v4.1.1 is cited in the EU Official Journal.
24 of 31 homepages have automatically detected barriers at Levels A and AA. This is not a compliance judgement, but it shows where to start when preparing for supervision.
6Implications for executives
Establish an independent baseline
Supervisors ask banks to document their measures. Measure beyond the homepage, including logged-in journeys and the mobile app.
Assign a single owner
Barriers span design, content and engineering. Without an executive owner and a quarterly target, fixes lose to the campaign calendar.
Fix shared components first
With 79% of barriers repeating, a component-level fix carries into every page that uses it.
Make measurement continuous
Scan every release and commission an expert audit at least yearly. Report barrier density and critical-task completion to the board.
References
- Barrierefreiheitsgesetz (BaFG), BGBl. I No. 76/2023. Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS).
- Federal Ministry of Social Affairs (Sozialministerium). Barrierefreiheitsgesetz: general information.
- Österreichischer Behindertenrat. “Ein Jahr Barrierefreiheitsgesetz”, 24 June 2026.
- AccessibleEU. “The European accessibility standard EN 301 549 has been updated”, 7 September 2026.
- W3C. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2.
- World Health Organization. Disability and health, fact sheet, March 2023.
Austria banking sector: digital accessibility report 2026
Complete data, methodology, WCAG criteria table and appendix.
