Day of Great Plans: Michael G. Müller – In 2018, the Inevitable Cost of Agrokor, Slowing Growth

The leading figures of the economy – opinion makers, CEOs, representatives of the Government and European institutions will gather on September 27 at Lider’s ninth international conference Day of Great Plans at the Westin hotel, where they will announce global and micro forecasts for individual markets for 2018. Entrepreneurs and managers will receive practical inputs and useful, applicable information that will help them refine their business plans for the upcoming year as accurately as possible.

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One of the panelists is the well-known banking name and industry leader, Michael Georg Müller, CEO of Raiffeisenbank Austria d.d., who will speak at the conference about forecasts in his sector, as well as what the Croatian economy can expect in 2018:

– We are approaching the end of the third year in which the economy is recording growth. Favorable trends in the economy have lasted long enough to forget how fragile the growth drivers are, and structural movements are unfavorable, despite the achieved growth. Already next year, these conditions may change, or worsen. Especially since the inevitable cost of restructuring Agrokor has not significantly impacted the economy this year, as it has been postponed to the next year by special law. Therefore, we forecast a slowdown in growth for 2018, and how strong it will be depends on factors that we cannot yet accurately assess, such as the outcome of the process in Agrokor and the movement of financing costs. Structural movements diminish the potential for future growth, which, due to the predominance of favorable external factors, will not yet stop growth in 2018, but could lead to stagnation of the economy in the long term – announces Müller.

Regarding trends in the banking market, in 2018, Müller believes that banks should focus on improving service delivery platforms to remain competitive in a market marked by increasing digitalization and openness to alternative financial service providers.

– We are facing a period of increased investment in technology, process organization, and the knowledge and skills of employees. If there are no regulatory changes that could negatively affect the operations of banks, especially those with retroactive effects, then banks next year could provide clients with increasing quality of service and intermediation at competitive financing prices – concludes Müller.

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Michael G. Müller obtained his doctorate at Karl-Franzens-Universität in Graz in 1984 and also completed a Business Administration A degree at the same faculty. He gained extensive experience in managerial positions at companies such as Dataline, Vienna, then Hoffman Aircraft, Wr. Neustadt, and at NMB Bank in Vienna. As part of his career at Raiffeisen, he was employed at Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (RZB) in Vienna, then at RZB’s representative offices in Milan and Paris, and at Raiffeisenbank Austria d.d. Zagreb as a board member for six years. He was also the CEO of Raiffeisen BANK d.d. Bosnia and Herzegovina until 2014, during which time he strengthened the bank’s position as a market leader. Additionally, from October 2001 to June 2005, he served as the chairman of the Supervisory Board of Raiffeisen Osiguranje d.d. Sarajevo. He was also a member, and later the chairman, of the Management Board of the Association of Banks of Bosnia and Herzegovina, contributing to the development of the banking market in the country, while in 2016 he was appointed a member of the Management Board of the Foreign Investors Council in Croatia.