As of the end of December 2021, the NAV of Croatian Mandatory Pension Funds amounted to HRK 133bn (or EUR 17.7bn), representing an 11.7% increase YoY.
With the Croatian mandatory pension funds being one of the largest contributors and players in the Croatian capital market, they hold significant sway with how they invest their money, so it’s interesting to see how they’ve performed in the recent period.
NAV of the pension funds continued its growth in December 2021, reaching the 21st consecutive month that they experienced growth. NAV at the end of 2021 amounted to HRK 133bn or EUR 17.9bn, (an increase of 11.7% YoY or HRK 13.9bn). On a MoM basis, this amounts to an increase of 1.5% of HRK 2.03bn. It should also be noted that the net contributions in December amounted to HRK 676.1m, whilst in the entire 2021 they amounted to HRK 7.46bn.
AUM structure change – Mandatory Pension Funds ( January 2018 – December 2021)
Looking over at the asset structure of the pension funds, bonds continue to amount for the vast majority of the total, currently at 62.5%, which as of the end of 2021, amounted to HRK 83.4bn, an increase of 1% MoM (or HRK 851.2m in absolute amount).
Current Mandatory Pension Fund AUM (December 2021, %)
Next up, we have shares, which amount to 21.1% or HRK 28.2bn, an increase of 5.2% MoM (or HRK 1.4bn in absolute terms). This increase is driven by both the domestic equity holdings, which grew by 6.1% MoM (or HRK 921.7m), as well as an increase in foreign equity holdings, which increased by 4.1% (or HRK 480.8m). With this increase, domestic equity holdings account for 56.6% of total equity holdings. Looking at the equity segment on the annual basis, domestic equity holdings were up 25.3% YoY. If we take into account that domestic market was up 20%, it means that they have additionally invested at least HRK 640m. If we take into account that turnover of domestic equity on ZSE was HRK 1.8bn it means that Pension funds contributed to at least 36% of this turnover. Meanwhile, domestic bond holdings account for 94.7% of total bond holdings and in 2021 they were up 31.4% YoY.
