At the end of March, the NAV of Croatian mutual funds decreased by 4.7% MoM, amounting to HRK 18.1bn. This also wiped out most of the gains from the previous months, which now amounts to a -6.4% loss YoY.
The Croatian Agency for the Supervision of Financial Institutions (HANFA) has published its monthly report on the developments in the financial markets. Since the Croatian mutual funds play a key role in the financial market, we decided to see how they performed. During March, the Croatian mutual funds had a NAV of HRK 18.1bn, a decrease of -4.7% MoM. This continues the negative trend from 2021, where on a YTD basis, the NAV decreased by -16%. Also, compared to its pre-COVID 19 maximum, the NAV is 21.6% lower.
The 4.7% decrease MoM can be seen across the whole variety of holdings. Compared to last month when receivables recorded a significant increase, receivables for this month decreased by 88.4% MoM or HRK 339m. The highest absolute decrease, however, was experienced by the bond holdings, which decreased by HRK -543.8m or -5.1% MoM. Deposits and cash also experienced a notable decrease, losing HRK -320.9m (or -7.1%) of their value MoM. Next up, we have investment funds, which lost HRK -105.2m or -7.1% of their value. The only asset class to experience any kind of a more notable increase were shares, which grew by HRK 29.9m or 1.3% MoM. The decrease can most certainly be attributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as the record inflation in the last 40 years coupled with FEDs rate hikes (which indirectly influence the entire equity market, although to a lesser extent in the EU) as well as the expected quantitative tightening by the ECB.
Looking at the YoY basis, the NAV fell sharply, decreasing by 6.4%. Diving it into asset classes, bonds are by far the largest absolute decliners, losing HRK -1.48bn of their value (or -13%), followed by deposits and cash, which lost HRK -724.6m or -15% of their value YoY. However, compared to their MoM results, other asset classes recorded strong growth on the YoY basis. The largest absolute increase was experienced by investment funds, which grew by HRK 468.5m (or 52%) YoY, followed by shares, which grew by HRK 408.7m (or 21%) YoY.
Meanwhile, looking over the securities and deposits, both domestic and foreign securities and deposits decreased in March. Domestic securities and deposits decreased by HRK 257.2m (or 2.6%) MoM, while foreign securities and deposits decreased by HRK 197.2m (or 3.1%) MoM. In total, this led to a decrease in total securities and deposits of HRK 454.4m, or -2.8% MoM. On a yearly basis, the situation is somewhat different. Domestic securities and deposits decreased by HRK -1.16bn or -11% YoY, while foreign securities and deposits remained at roughly the same level, leading to a total decrease of securities and deposits of -6.9% YoY.
At the same time, looking at the asset structure of the mutual funds, bonds remain the largest asset holding, at 54.8%, with a decrease of 0.1 p.p. MoM. Furthermore, we have shares with 12.8%, an increase of 1 p.p. MoM, and an overall increase of 2.9 p.p. YoY. Next up we have investment funds at 7.4%, which remain unchanged MoM but had an increase of 2.8 p.p. YoY. The largest relative increase was experienced by the receivables, which fell by 1.7 p.p. MoM and increased by 0.1 p.p. YoY.
Croatian mutual funds AUM structure (March 2022, %)
It should also be noted that domestic equity, which accounts for 26% of total equity holdings, lost 11% of its value YoY, while foreign equity holdings, which account for the remaining 74%, lost 20% of its value YoY. Meanwhile, net contributions decreased by HRK -1.01bn during the month.
Total assets of all Croatian UCITS funds (2015 – March 2022, EURm)
