May 2023 Monthly Report

PENSION FUNDS

SECOND PILLAR PENSION FUNDS

At the end of May 2023, mandatory pension funds (MPFs) had 2,198,978 members, i.e. 3,639 (0.17%) members more than in the previous month. Category B funds had 83.9% of all MPF members, while category A and category C funds had 11.8% and 4.3% of all MPF members respectively. Out of 5,535 new members recorded in May, 5,390 (97.4%) were automatically assigned by Regos. Termination of membership due to retirement or death was recorded with respect to 1,896 insured persons. Total net contributions paid to MPFs in May amounted to EUR 109.3m (0.6% of net assets at the end of April). At the same time, total payments from all MPFs due to personal account closures reached EUR 29.2m (0.2% of net assets at the end of April), increasing by EUR 19.6m compared to the previous month).

At the end of May 2023, MPFs’ net assets amounted to EUR 18.5bn, rising by EUR 187.4m (1.0%) relative to the previous month. Nominal monthly Mirex returns reached 0.5% for category A, 0.7% for category B and 0.2% for category C. Annual Mirex returns reached 4.7% for category A, 1.7% for category B and -0.6% for category C, while annualised^[1] returns since the beginning of MPFs’ operation stood at 6.7% for Mirex A, 5.1% for Mirex B and 3.2% for Mirex C^[2].

At the end of May, bond investments of MPFs totalled EUR 11.6bn (62.5% of total assets), making their share increase by 0.2 p.p. on a monthly basis. The share of equity investments in MPFs’ assets increased by 0.1 p.p. on a monthly basis, amounting to 21.5% of MPFs’ assets (EUR 4.0bn). Investments in domestic shares accounted for 12.6%, while investments in foreign shares accounted for 8.9% of MPFs’ assets. Investments in investment funds amounted to EUR 2.1bn (11.1% of the assets), making the proportion of these investments in total assets rise by 0.1 p.p. relative to the previous month. Investments in cash and deposits amounted to 3.2% of the assets, or EUR 594.7m.

THIRD PILLAR PENSION FUNDS

At the end of May 2023, 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 0.03%, making the number of members of these funds reach 381,059 and 47,694 respectively. Total monthly payments made to voluntary pension funds (VPFs) in May 2023 amounted to EUR 8.1m (0.7% of their net assets at end-April), rising slightly (by EUR 0.07m) compared to the previous month. Total payments made from these funds reached EUR 3.7m, increasing by EUR 0.2m (5.7%) compared to total payments made from VPFs in the previous month. Total payments from VPFs made due to retirement and other reasons accounted for 71.6%, payments made due to the change of fund reached 21.1%, while those made due to death accounted for 7.3% of total payments in May. With respect to payments made due to retirement, the amount of EUR 1.1m 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 0.6m was transferred for payment to pension insurance companies.

In May 2023, VPFs’ net assets rose by EUR 9.6m (0.9% on a monthly basis) and stood at EUR 1.1bn. Monthly nominal returns of VPFs ranged from -0.2% to 1.3%, while returns on an annual basis ranged from -1.0% to 4.4%. As regards the investment structure of VPFs, the largest part of the portfolio was made up of bonds and amounted to a 54.4% share in total net assets, followed by stocks with a 25.2% share and investment funds with a 12.5% share. The share of bonds in VPFs’ investments increased on a monthly basis by 0.2 p.p., the equity share rose by 0.1 p.p., while the share of investments in investment funds grew by 0.4 p.p.

CAPITAL MARKET

In May 2023, the total turnover on the Zagreb Stock Exchange reached EUR 18.8m, decreasing by 20.7% on a monthly basis. Market capitalisation increased by 1.4% relative to the previous month and stood at EUR 38.0bn, of which stocks amounted to EUR 20.1bn, bonds to EUR 17.9bn and ETFs to 9m. As for stock indices, the largest monthly rise was recorded by CROBEXkostrukt (4.2%), while CROBEXtransport recorded the largest monthly decrease (6.9%). The main stock index of the ZSE (CROBEX) also recorded a monthly rise (1.2%), while CROBEX10 recorded a 1.7% monthly growth. CROBIS bond index grew by 0.3% on a monthly basis, while CROBIStr also recorded a monthly rise, by 0.5%. HT d.d. was again the stock most traded in May, with its turnover amounting to EUR 2.3m (13.7% of the overall stock trade in May) and a 2.0% monthly price increase.

INVESTMENT FUNDS

In May 2023, there were 105 UCITS operating on the market, two more than in the previous month. Total net assets of UCITS amounted to EUR 2.0bn at the end of the month, increasing by EUR 20.8m or 1.1% compared to the previous month. Total monthly net payments of all UCITS were positive and reached EUR 11.2m. Negative monthly net payments were recorded by bond funds (EUR -14.3m), balanced funds (EUR -2.3m) and feeder funds (EUR -2.0m). Positive monthly net payments were recorded by bond funds (EUR 3.1m) and funds categorised as “other funds” (EUR 26.7m). Bond funds’ net assets accounted for 43.1% of the total net assets of all UCITS at the end of May, while equity and balanced funds accounted for 15.2% and 14.1% of the total UCITS’ net assets respectively. In May 2023, positive asset-weighted average monthly returns were generated by all UCITS, namely feeder (1.4%), equity (0.5%), balanced (0.5%), bond (0.1%) and other UCITS (0.1%).

Net assets of the Fund for Croatian Homeland War Veterans and Members of their Families amounted to EUR 138.6m (a 2.1% monthly increase), with the monthly return of the fund reaching 2.3%.

The full report is available at Publications/Monthly reports