By the end of September 2023, the NAV of Croatian pension funds amounted to EUR 19.3bn, increasing by 0.4% MoM, 10.5% YTD and 12.4% YoY.
Recently, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency, HANFA, released its latest report on the performance of the Croatian capital markets, including data on the performance of the Croatian pension funds. According to the report, the NAV of Croatian pension funds amounted to EUR 19.3bn, increasing by 0.4% MoM, 10.5% YTD, and 12.4% YoY. During the same month, the net contributions into the funds amounted to EUR 109.6m, while on a YTD basis, it amounted to almost EUR 924m.
Croatian mandatory pension funds AUM structure change (January 2018 – September 2023, EURm)
Source: HANFA, InterCapital Research
Moving on to the asset structure of the funds, on a MoM basis, the largest absolute increase was recorded by bonds, which increased by 1.4%, or EUR 168m to EUR 12bn. Following them there are other assets category, which increased by more than 2x, or EUR 18m to EUR 36m. On the other hand, deposits and cash decreased by EUR 55m, or 8.7% to EUR 575.6m. Inv. funds also decreased by EUR 26.6m, or 1.2% to EUR 2.15bn.
Meanwhile, on a YoY basis, the largest increases were recorded by share as well as bond holdings, which increased by EUR 919m (or 27.4%), and EUR 890m (or 8%), respectively. Inv. funds and the money market holdings also increased, by EUR 348m (or 19.3%), and EUR 109m (or 79%) YoY, respectively. On the other hand, deposits and cash declined by EUR 105.6m or 15.5%, while the other assets category decreased by EUR 78.9m or 69% YoY.
Looking a bit closer at the securities and deposits, in total they amounted to EUR 15.2bn in September 2023, increasing by 6% YoY, and remaining unchanged MoM. Of this, domestic securities and deposits accounted for 89% of the total, increasing by 4% YoY, while foreign securities and deposits accounted for the remaining 11%, with an increase of 4% YoY. Both domestic and foreign securities and deposits remained unchanged MoM.
Current AUM of Croatian mandatory pension funds (September 2023, % of the total)
Source: HANFA, InterCapital Research
In terms of the current asset structure of the pension funds, the vast majority of the total asset amount (62.6%) is held by bonds, with an increase of 0.62 p.p. MoM, but a decrease of 2.62 p.p. YoY. Following them there are shares at 22.1%, remaining roughly unchanged MoM, but increasing by 2.59 p.p. YoY. Finally, there are inv. funds, which hold 11.1% of the total, decreasing by 0.18 p.p. MoM, but increasing by 0.64 p.p. YoY.
