Presented Academy of the Zagreb Stock Exchange

The Academy of the Zagreb Stock Exchange, established for the education and promotion of knowledge in the Croatian capital market, was presented today and has commenced operations. According to its director Melita Marčeta, the Academy is intended for all current and future participants in the financial market, from small to institutional investors.

The education system is based on a series of basic and specialized courses prepared in collaboration with the consortium of BME Španjolske burze. The project was realized with the assistance of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which financed the entire endeavor. The EBRD Director for Croatia, Charlote Ruhe, reminded of the bank’s initiative for the development of local tržišta kapitala, which is essential for addressing the issue of foreign currency debt that is widespread in the EBRD region. In her assessment, the timing for the Academy’s launch is good considering the government’s announcements of continued privatization, part of which, she stated, will certainly take place on the stock exchange.

The President of the Management Board of the Zagreb Stock Exchange, Ivana Gažić, assessed that the EBRD, by providing non-repayable funds for the Academy’s operations, recognized the importance of investing in education about tržištima kapitala. Javier Amo from BME assessed that financial education is essential for both professionals and citizens who will need to know more about tržištima kapitala in order to manage their finances. The first five promotional courses within the Academy of the Zagreb Stock Exchange will be held in May by lecturers from Španjolske, and then in the autumn, the education system will be taken over by domestic experts. This project is merely an intensification and institutionalization of the long-standing work of the Zagreb Stock Exchange in raising the level of general and specialized knowledge in the Croatian financial market, which is one of the fundamental roles of the stock exchange as an organized capital market in Croatia, it was stated at the presentation. (H)