Hanfa awards the best student expert and scientific papers in economics for the fifth consecutive year

At a ceremony held in Zagreb today, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) presented its Annual Award for the best student scientific and expert papers.  The awards were given to students whose expert and scientific papers were declared the best within the framework of the call launched by Hanfa at the beginning of last year. The papers, covering the area of economics, were reviewed by an expert committee, that chose the top three, and awarded their authors with both symbolic and financial prizes totalling EUR 1,000, 1,700 and 2,500.

For the fifth consecutive year, Hanfa has been awarding the best student scientific and expert papers in economics with the aim of further encouraging the development of economic thought and recognizing and motivating outstanding students in their studies and professional work

The winners of the Annual Hanfa Student Award for the best scientific and expert papers for 2025 are as follows:

1. Dora Samac and Doris Kružičević, students of the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism in Split, received an award of EUR 2,500 in total for their paper The rise of passive investing: implications for market efficiency and volatility.
2. Maja Mateljan, student of the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism in Split, received an award of EUR 1,700 for her paper Financial inclusion through digitalisation: are FinTech solutions a bridge to greater financial literacy?
3. Lovro Lesić, Marin Lesić and Luka Medvidović, students of the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, received an award of EUR 1,000 in total for their paper The impact of globalisation on the effectiveness of traditional diversification strategies.

On behalf of Hanfa, the winners were congratulated by Ante Žigman, President of Hanfa Board, who stated: “Over time, this initiative has grown into an important educational project, as well as a platform for dialogue between the regulator, the academic community and young researchers. Over the past five years, the committee has reviewed more than 40 student papers, and this year we received an impressive number of high-quality submissions, making the selection process particularly challenging. We are proud to witness a growing interest among students in topics that shape today’s, but also tomorrow’s, financial system. The submitted papers demonstrate an increasingly high level of understanding of complex financial issues, while also approaching them from an interdisciplinary perspective, encompassing economic, demographic, legal and psychological aspects of financial decision-making.”

State Secretary at the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth Iva Ivanković, PhD, welcomed the participants and congratulated the students on their success. Congratulations were also extended by Tereza Rogić Lugarić, PhD, State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, who praised the relevance of the selected economic topics. Representatives of the students’ faculties also joined in congratulating the awardees, including Prof. Snježana Pivac, PhD, Vice-Dean for Teaching and Student Affairs at the Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism in Split, whose students won two awards this year, and Zoran Barac, PhD, Managing Director of the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, whose student team received Hanfa’s award for the second consecutive year.

Hanfa will continue with these activities in order to further motivate students to engage with economic topics. Students are invited to consider applying to this year’s call for submissions, which has been published on Hanfa’s website.