At the end of June 2024, the NAV of Croatian mutual funds increased by 3.2% MoM and 36% YoY, reaching EUR 2.76bn. This marks the third consecutive month of YoY growth exceeding 30% YoY, a trend not seen since early 2017, indicating strong momentum in NAV development. Despite this increase, with this increase, the NAV is “only” 11% below its pre-COVID-19 peak.
According to the latest report by the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency the NAV of Croatian mutual funds saw substantial growth in June 2024, rising by 3.2% MoM and 36% YoY, reaching EUR 2.76bn. After April’s 32% and May’s 34% YoY growth in NAV, June finally broke the record set back in January 2017 (35.5%) with a 36% YoY increase in NAV. This growth narrows the gap to the pre-pandemic peak, now only 11% below it.
To understand this growth, it is essential to examine the primary drivers: changes in the underlying value of assets and net contributions to the funds. In June, net contributions totaled EUR 85.5m, mainly driven by investments in cash funds, which accounted for EUR 62.9m. Other funds category followed, with net contributions of EUR 19.7m. Equity fund also recorded a noteworthy increase in net contributions, at EUR 11.3m. Meanwhile, on the TTM basis ending in June, net contributions reached EUR 640.1m, compared to EUR -147.2m in the same period last year, indicating improved retail sentiment, confidence, interest in investing, and a more positive outlook for the future.
Net contributions to the Croatian mutual funds (January 2021 – June 2024, EURm)
Source: HANFA, InterCapital Research
In terms of absolute change, the NAV increased by EUR 729.2m YoY and EUR 84.3m MoM. Notably, 87.8% of the annual growth stemmed from net contributions. Furthermore, on the MoM basis, net contributions amounted to EUR 85.5m, which is EUR 1.2m higher than the growth in NAV, indicating that on a monthly basis, NAV growth was driven only by contributions, while the values of assets slightly decreased.
Moving on to the changes in the assets themselves, on the MoM basis, money market holdings saw the largest increase of 31.1%, or EUR 51.9m, followed by shareholdings, which rose by 4.9%, or EUR 22.2m. Other categories combined, i.e. other assets, receivables, investment funds, and bonds, grew by EUR 19.8m, while deposit and cash holdings decreased by 0.8%, or EUR 3.2m. Meanwhile, on a YoY basis, money market holdings surged by 713%, or EUR 191m, followed by shareholdings, which grew by 43.5%, or EUR 143m. This, however, was not enough to outmatch bonds, which recorded the largest absolute increase of EUR 220m.
Total assets of the Croatian mutual funds (January 2015 – June 2024, EURm)
Source: HANFA, InterCapital Research
Regarding securities and deposits, in June 2024, they amounted to EUR 2.72bn, declining by 3.3% MoM but growing 39% YoY. Of this, EUR 1.8bn, or 66.3%, was held in foreign securities and deposits, while the remaining 33.7% was held domestically. The domestic segment experienced a 0.7% MoM decrease and an 11% YoY increase. Meanwhile, the foreign segment grew on both bases, at 6% MoM and 60% YoY, respectively.
Lastly, looking at the current asset structure of the mutual funds, the largest share was held by bonds at 52.3%, representing a decrease of 1.42 p.p. MoM and 7.95 p.p. YoY, followed by shares at 16.9% of the total, growing by 0.25 p.p. MoM and 0.92 p.p. YoY. Next, deposits and cash accounted for 14.5% of the total, declining by 0.60 p.p. MoM but growing by 3.29 p.p. YoY. Lastly, money market and investment funds holdings accounted for 7.8% and 7.6% of the total, respectively. The money market segment increased by 1.66 p.p. MoM and 6.53 p.p. YoY, while investment funds had a 0.11 p.p. increase MoM and a 2.64 p.p. decrease YoY.
Current AUM of Croatian mutual funds (% of the total, June 2024)
Source: HANFA, InterCapital Research
