Žigman: I expect that now that currency risk has been eliminated, credit risk will be more in focus

When discussing risk management, one of the most common risks that always catches the eye is currency risk, which, as stated by the president of Hanfa Ante Žigman at a panel held at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Zagreb, has practically disappeared since the beginning of this year.

‒ I expect that interest rate risk and probably some other risks will now be more in focus, and currency risk is one that has suddenly, overnight, been erased from the balance sheets of new companies – said Žigman during the presentation of the book ‘Risk Management: Theoretical Concepts and Application in Business Practice’ authored by Danijela Miloš Sprčić and Ivana Dvorski Lacković.

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Ivana Dvorski Lacković and Danijela Miloš Sprčić

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Žigman also emphasized the importance of the Hanfa Corporate Governance Code, and as he pointed out, the goal is to continue further and work on governance with new amendments in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and possibly also with the OECD.

He also touched on the general topic of ESG criteria, stating that ‘this G’, or corporate governance, often remains neglected because without it, there is neither risk management nor the introduction of environmental standards.

At the panel titled ‘Risk Management in Croatian Companies’, Ivana Miličić from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development spoke, emphasizing the reform of corporate governance as a specificity of Croatia since it has been implemented with both the EBRD and Hanfa, ministries, and companies.

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Panel discussion: Risk Management in Croatian Companies

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‒ Cooperation with the OECD is extremely important for implementing reforms because they are difficult to adopt and even harder to implement – said Miličić.

The banking system is the first thought when discussing risks, which was confirmed by the director of the Croatian Banking Association Tamara Perko, who stated that banks consider all aspects of risk, so besides ESG, there is also cyber risk.

‒ It is not a question of whether we will be hacked, but when we will be hacked, and we must be ready to manage those risks – explained Perko.

The panel also included Igor Lončarski from the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana, Matija Kovačević, a member of the management board of Hrvatski Telekom, and Hrvoje Patajac, director of controlling at Adris Group.

The entire panel concluded with the presentation of the book by authors Miloš Sprčić and Dvorski Lacković, which is intended for managers, economics students, and students of organization and informatics, and as confirmed at the event, the way it is written is ‘a good balance of scientific and practical approaches’ to the topic of risk management.

One of the reviewers of this book was Žigman, who emphasized that new risks arise every day while past ones do not disappear, so ‘we can manage them’, which is essential for the operation of any company.