A comprehensive overview of the top local asset managers
The Croatian asset management company Raiffeisen Invest d.o.o. was established in 2002, around the same time when all the major players also initiated their asset management business in Croatia.
Throughout all 22 years as well as today, Raiffeisen Invest d.o.o. is continuously positioned among the top five local asset managers with assets under management (AUM) above 270 million euro and market share of approximately 9.2%, slightly above overall market share of local Raiffeisen bank.
Local banks act as the distributor of Raiffeisen Invest d.o.o. funds.
As the Croatian financial market is still bank-centic, dominated by international banking groups, all major asset managers are owned by those banks.
The biggest market share in the asset management industy (data from August 2024) is taken by the following banks:
Intesa Group, Eurizon: 30.84%
Zagrebačka banka, part of Unicredit group: 27.28%
Erste Asset Management: 14.6%
Intercapital: 9.76% (the only non-banking Asset Manager, while emerged by several local acquisitions)
Total AUM in UCITS funds industry as of August of 2024 is 2.9 billion euro. Prevailing asset classes and fund category are bonds amounting 842 million euro, followed by category of special funds of about 756 million euro and equity of approximately 507 million euro.
Distribution of all funds is predominantly performed by captive local banks, through branches and internet entries. One can always invest through one-off payments or savings plans on regular, periodic basis.
Market offering is quite homogenous in terms of UCITS funds. All the big players are offering bond, mixed and equities funds. In recent years special funds with more flexible asset allocation were also introduced. Additionally, in the last 1-2 years target maturity funds become very attractive and the majority of recently acquired assets on the market was invested through target date funds.
With pick up of yields money market funds got attention, currently four UCITS are registered as money market with AUM of about 443 million euro and one Money Market ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) with AUM 30.5 million euro.
Pension fund market
Since 2002, private pensions in Croatia have been administered through two pillars (so called second and third pillar funds). These two pillars are essentially defined contribution pension schemes which differ in respect of their regulatory treatment and contribution characteristics.
The second pillar is mandatory and 5% of salaries of employees in Croatia are automatically directed to the second pillar funds.
The third pillar is voluntary, meaning that members choose whether they want to contribute a portion of their disposable income towards these funds. There are certain tax and monetary incentives for members and employers to do so.
The private pension system started in 2002 with 938,000 insured people in seven mandatory pension funds managed by pension companies owned mostly by international banks and insurance companies. The most dominant participants with the following market shares were:
AZ Profit (mandatory pension company) with 39.63%
Raiffeisen MPC with 32.37%
PBZ CO with 16.57%
Other less prevailing companies later merged into one pension company: Erste Plavi. The first voluntary pension fund was founded by Raiffeisen, but from 2003 other companies have started to manage voluntary pension schemes too.
Mandatory and voluntary pension funds
Today, there are four mandatory pension fund management companies in Croatia, of which three also manage voluntary pension funds, and there is an additional voluntary pension fund management company which does not manage mandatory pension funds.
Mandatory pension funds have 2.3 million members, and there are 460,000 members in voluntary pension funds. Net asset value of mandatory pension funds is 22.2 billion euro. Net asset value of voluntary pension funds is 1.36 billion euro, 83% in 8 open voluntary pension funds and 17% in 21 closed voluntary pension funds.
Pension insurance companies also play a significant role in the Croatian pension system, as they are the ones who distribute pensions after the accumulation phase. There are currently two companies in the market, namely Raiffeisen pension insurance company and Croatian pension insurance company.
Innovations related to new digital solutions are recognized through the improvement of communication with clients and new tools for gathering new members in the third pillar. Several features stand out in this context such as: online enrollment in voluntary pension funds, mobile applications, digital onboarding systems, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), etc. The tools are mostly the same among all pension companies, but Raiffeisen pension company recently launched its standalone mobile application which stands out for its much more advanced functionalities.
* UCITS: The Undertakings for the Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) is the European Commission's regulatory framework for managing and selling mutual funds. UCITS funds can be registered and sold in any country in the European Union using unified regulatory and investor protection requirements.
Source: Uprava, Raiffeisen Invest Ltd., as of September 2024