July 2024 Monthly Report

PENSION FUNDS

SECOND PILLAR PENSION FUNDS

At the end of July 2024, mandatory pension funds (MPFs) had 2,293,652 members, or 12,908 (0.57%) members more than in the previous month. Category B funds had 79.2% of all MPF members, while category A and category C funds had 16.4% and 4.4% of all MPF members respectively. Out of 14,973 new members, 14,776 (98.7%) were automatically allocated by Regos. Termination of membership due to retirement or death was recorded with respect to 2,065 insured persons. Total net contributions paid to MPFs in July amounted to EUR 132.2m (0.6% of net assets at end-June). At the same time, total payments from all MPFs due to personal account closures reached EUR 41.8m (0.2% of net assets at end-June), rising by EUR 3.0m compared to the previous month.

At the end of July 2024, MPFs’ net assets amounted to EUR 22.1bn, rising by EUR 0.5bn (2.2%) relative to the previous month. Monthly Mirex returns reached 2.6% for category A, 1.9% for category B and 0.5% for category C. Annual Mirex returns reached 13.8% for category A, 10.4% for category B and 4.3% for category C. Year-to-date returns reached 9.3% for category A, 6.5% for category B and 1.5% for category C, while annualised[1] returns since the beginning of MPFs’ operation reached 7.7% for Mirex A, 5.4% for Mirex B and 3.3% for Mirex C[2].

At the end of July, MPFs’ bond investments totalled EUR 13.4bn (60.6% of total assets), making their share decrease by 0.6 p.p. on a monthly basis. The share of equity investments in MPFs’ assets increased by 0.3 p.p. on a monthly basis, amounting to 23.7% of MPFs’ assets (EUR 5.2bn) at the end of July 2024. Investments in domestic shares accounted for 14.0%, while investments in foreign shares accounted for 9.7% of MPFs’ assets. Investments in investment funds amounted to EUR 2.2bn (10.1% of the assets), making the proportion of these investments in total assets increase by 0.1 p.p. relative to the previous month. Investments in cash and deposits amounted to 3.3% of the assets, or EUR 725.0m.

THIRD PILLAR PENSION FUNDS

At the end of July 2024, the number of members of 8 open-ended voluntary pension funds (OVPFs) rose by 0.4% on a monthly basis, while the number of members of 21 closed-ended voluntary pension funds (CVPFs) increased by 0.1%, making the number of members of these funds reach 408,327 and 49,144 respectively. Total monthly payments made to voluntary pension funds (VPFs) in July 2024 amounted to EUR 10.2m (0.8% of net assets at end-June), increasing by 10.2% compared to the previous month. Total payments made from these funds reached EUR 4.1m, decreasing by EUR 0.1m (3.1%) compared to total payments made from VPFs in the previous month. Total payments from VPFs made due to retirement and other reasons accounted for 69.4%, payments made due to the change of fund reached 21.8%, while those made due to death accounted for 8.8% of total payments in July. As regards total payments made due to retirement, the amount of EUR 1.4m was paid through a pension company (fund), the amount of EUR 0.9m was paid in the form of lump-sum payments, while the amount of EUR 0.5m was transferred for payment to pension insurance companies.

In July 2024, VPFs’ net assets increased by EUR 28.3m (2.1% on a monthly basis) and stood at EUR 1.4bn. Monthly nominal returns of VPFs ranged from 0.5% to 3.3%, while returns on an annual basis ranged from 3.7% to 15.8%. As regards the investment structure of VPFs, the largest part of the portfolio was made up of bonds and amounted to a 55.0% share in total net assets, followed by stocks with a 26.2% share and investment funds with a 10.0% share. The share of bonds in VPFs’ investments decreased on a monthly basis by 0.1 p.p., the equity share rose by 0.6 p.p., while the share of investments in investment funds increased by 0.1 p.p.

INSURANCE COMPANIES

In July 2024, there were 14 insurance companies operating on the market. The total premium collected in the first seven months of 2024 amounted to EUR 1.1bn, of which EUR 203.1m (18.0%) related to life insurance premium and EUR 925.7m (82.0%) to non-life insurance premium. The structure of the non-life insurance premium collected is dominated by motor vehicle liability insurance (36.7%), followed by insurance of road vehicles (18.9%), and insurance against fire and natural disasters (9.3%). The value of claims settled in the first seven months of 2024 reached EUR 759.4m. EUR 291.2m (38.3%) of this amount related to life insurance, while EUR 468.2m (61.7%) related to non-life insurance. In the total amount of claims settled in non-life insurance, the largest amounts related to motor vehicle liability insurance (41.2%), insurance of road vehicles (22.0%), and insurance against fire and natural disasters (9.2%).

CAPITAL MARKET

The total turnover on the Zagreb Stock Exchange reached EUR 59.0m in July 2024, increasing by 90.1% at a monthly level. Market capitalisation increased by 4.3% relative to the previous month and stood at EUR 42.7bn, of which stocks amounted to EUR 25.4bn, bonds to EUR 18.7bn, money market instruments to EUR 2.6bn and ETFs to 59m. As regards sectoral stock indices, the largest monthly growth (7.6%) was recorded by CROBEXindustrija, while CROBEXtransport recorded the largest monthly decline (5.4%). The main ZSE stock index (CROBEX) recorded a monthly growth (5.6%), as did CROBEXtr (6.6%). The CROBIS bond index recorded a monthly decrease (0.3%), while CROBIStr recorded an increase (0.1%). PODRAVKA d.d. was the stock most traded in July again, with its turnover amounting to EUR 7.0m (20.0% of the overall trade in stocks in July) and a 3.5% monthly price increase.

INVESTMENT FIRMS

INVESTMENT FUNDS

In July 2024, there were 114 UCITS operating on the market. Their total net assets amounted to EUR 2.8bn at the end of the month, increasing by EUR 88.2m or 3.2% compared to the previous month. Total monthly payments of all UCITS in July were positive, amounting to EUR 37.3m. Positive net payments were recorded by money market funds (EUR 32.3m), equity funds (EUR 8.6m), balanced funds (EUR 0.8m) and “other” funds (EUR 0.7m). Negative net payments were recorded by feeder funds (EUR -0.2m) and bond funds (EUR -5.0m). Bond funds’ net assets accounted for 28.6% of the total net assets of all UCITS at the end of July, funds categorised as “other” accounted for 26.2%, while equity and balanced funds accounted for 17.1% and 9.8% of the total UCITS’ net assets respectively. In July 2024, positive asset-weighted average monthly returns were recorded by equity funds (2.8%), bond funds (1.0%), balanced funds (0.9%), “other” funds (0.8%), and money market funds (0.3%), while a negative return was recorded by feeder funds only (-0.7%). At the end of July 2024, asset-weighted average annual returns stood at 21.6% for equity funds, 7.6% for balanced funds, 5.1% for funds categorised as “other", 6.8% for feeder funds and 4.5% for bond funds.

Net assets of the Fund for Croatian Homeland War Veterans and Members of their Families amounted to EUR 173.9m (a 2.7% monthly increase), with the monthly return of the fund reaching 2.9%.

LEASING COMPANIES

In the first quarter of 2024, there were 15 leasing companies operating on the market. Their total assets stood at EUR 4.1bn, a 20.7% increase compared to the same period in the previous year. At the same time, the total profit recorded by leasing companies rose by 12.6% on an annual basis, reaching EUR 35.6m. The outstanding contract value of active contracts in the operating lease segment rose by 28.8% at an annual level, while in the finance lease segment it increased by 21.4%. The value of newly concluded contracts in operating and finance lease rose by 19.2% and 22.1% respectively at an annual level.

FACTORING COMPANIES

At the end of the second quarter of 2024, there were 3 factoring companies operating on the market. Their total assets stood at HRK 21.9m at the end of June 2024, while their profit reached HRK 0.4m. The transaction volume was still dominated by classic factoring totalling EUR 38.3m (88.4% of the transactions), as were receivables, with classic factoring amounting to EUR 11.4m (86.7% of the receivables) at the end of the second quarter.

The full report is available at Statistics/Monthly reports