November 2023 Monthly Report

PENSION FUNDS

SECOND PILLAR PENSION FUNDS

At the end of November 2023, mandatory pension funds (MPFs) had 2,241,901 members, i.e. 6,822 (0.31%) members more than in the previous month. Category B funds had 81.5% of all MPF members, while category A and category C funds had 13.9% and 4.6% of all MPF members respectively. Out of 8,933 new members, 8,626 (96.6%) were automatically allocated by Regos. Termination of membership due to retirement or death was recorded with respect to 2,111 insured persons. Total net contributions paid to MPFs in November amounted to EUR 110.3m (0.6% of net assets at the end of October). At the same time, total payments from all MPFs due to personal account closures reached EUR 40.0m (0.2% of net assets at the end of October), decreasing by EUR 3.3m compared to the previous month.

At the end of November 2023, net assets of MPFs amounted to EUR 19.7bn, rising by EUR 0.4bn (2.2%) relative to the previous month. Nominal monthly Mirex returns reached 2.6% for category A, 1.9% for category B and 1.1% for category C. Annual Mirex returns reached 11.3% for category A, 6.6% for category B and 1.9% for category C, while annualised^[1] returns since the beginning of MPFs’ operation stood at 7.0% for Mirex A, 5.1% for Mirex B and 3.2% for Mirex C^[2].

At the end of November, MPFs’ bond investments totalled EUR 12.5bn (63.5% of total assets), making their share decrease by 0.8 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 22.0% of MPFs’ assets (EUR 4.3bn). Investments in domestic shares accounted for 13.5%, while investments in foreign shares accounted for 8.5% of MPFs’ assets. Investments in investment funds amounted to EUR 2.1bn (10.9% of the assets), making the proportion of these investments in total assets rise by 0.2 p.p. relative to the previous month. Investments in cash and deposits amounted to 2.9% of the assets, or EUR 570.0m.

THIRD PILLAR PENSION FUNDS

At the end of November 2023, the number of members of 8 open-ended voluntary pension funds (OVPFs) rose by 0.5% on a monthly basis, while the number of members of 21 closed-ended voluntary pension funds (CVPFs) increased by 0.7%, making the number of members of these funds reach 390,674 and 48,330 respectively. Total monthly payments made to voluntary pension funds (VPFs) in November 2023 amounted to EUR 12.9m (1.1% of their net assets at end-October), increasing by 44.4% compared to the previous month. Total payments made from these funds reached EUR 3.8m, decreasing by EUR 0.1m (2.7%) compared to total payments made from VPFs in the previous month. Total payments from VPFs made due to retirement and other reasons accounted for 73.1%, payments made due to the change of fund reached 21.6%, while those made due to death accounted for 5.3% of total payments in November. With respect to payments made due to retirement, the amount of EUR 1.2m 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 0.7m was transferred for payment to pension insurance companies.

In November 2023, net assets of VPFs increased by EUR 32.2m (2.8% on a monthly basis) and stood at EUR 1.19bn. Monthly nominal returns of VPFs ranged from 0.5% to 3.1%, while returns on an annual basis ranged from 1.0% to 12.6%. As regards the investment structure of VPFs, the largest part of the portfolio was made up of bonds and amounted to a 55.6% share in total net assets, followed by stocks with a 25.7% share and investment funds with a 10.6% share. The share of bonds in VPFs’ investments decreased on a monthly basis by 0.1 p.p., the equity share rose by 0.1 p.p., as did the share of investments in investment funds, which increased by 0.9 p.p.

INSURANCE COMPANIES

In November 2023, there were 14 insurance companies operating on the market. Their total premium collected in the first 11 months of 2023 amounted to EUR 1.6bn, of which EUR 288.0m (18.1%) related to life insurance premium and EUR 1.3bn (81.9%) to non-life insurance premium. The structure of the collected non-life insurance premium is dominated by motor vehicle liability insurance (35.8%), followed by insurance of land vehicles (18.2%) and insurance against fire and natural disasters (9.1%). The amount of claims settled in the first 11 months of 2023 reached EUR 1.0bn. EUR 376.4m of this amount related to life insurance (36.3%), while EUR 659.9m related to non-life insurance (63.7%). Within the total amount of claims settled in non-life insurance, the largest amounts related to motor vehicle liability insurance (38.7%), insurance of land vehicles (20.2%), and insurance against fire and natural disasters (10.0%).

CAPITAL MARKET

The total turnover on the Zagreb Stock Exchange reached EUR 40.9m in November 2023, increasing by 59.5% on a monthly basis. Market capitalisation increased by 1.3% relative to the previous month and stood at EUR 39.6bn, of which stocks amounted to EUR 22.0bn, bonds to EUR 17.5bn and ETFs to 19m. As for stock indices, the largest monthly rise was recorded by CROBEXtransport (7.8%), while CROBEXkonstrukt recorded the largest monthly decrease (7.9%). The main ZSE stock index (CROBEX) also grew, as did CROBEXtr (both by 2.9%). The main bond index CROBIS also rose (by 0.2%), while CROBIStr increased by 0.4%. PODRAVKA d.d. was again the stock most traded in November, with its turnover amounting to EUR 5.0m (21.3% of the overall trade in stocks in November) and a 11.2% monthly price increase.

INVESTMENT FUNDS

In November 2023, there were 113 UCITS operating on the market, two more than in the previous month. Their total net assets amounted to EUR 2.1bn at the end of the month, increasing by EUR 35.8m or 1.7% compared to the previous month. Total monthly net payments of all UCITS in November were positive and reached EUR 1.9m. Negative monthly net payments were recorded by bond funds (EUR -10.4m), balanced funds (EUR -4.5m) and feeder funds (EUR -1.1m). Positive net payments were recorded by funds belonging to the “other” category (EUR 13.8m), money market funds (EUR 2.4m) and equity funds (EUR 1.7m). Bond funds’ net assets accounted for 38.7% of the total net assets of all UCITS at the end of November, while equity and balanced funds accounted for 16.0% and 12.4% of the total net assets of UCITS respectively. In November 2023, positive asset-weighted average monthly returns were generated by all UCITS, namely equity ((4.0%), feeder ((3.9%), other(1.6%), other (2.8%), balanced (2.8%) and bond (0.9%) UCITS).

The net assets of the Fund for Croatian Homeland War Veterans and Members of their Families amounted to EUR 142.7m (a 0.2% monthly increase), with the monthly return of the fund reaching 0.4%.

The full report is available at Publications/Monthly reports.