Net Assets of Mandatory Pension Funds Increased by €229 Million in October

Net assets of mandatory pension funds (OMF) at the end of October this year reached €22.7 billion, which is an increase of €228.7 million or one percent compared to the previous month, according to a report from the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa) published on Tuesday. OMFs had a total of 2,321,855 members at the end of October, an increase of 4,410 members or 0.19 percent compared to September. In October, OMFs had 6,864 new members, the vast majority of whom, 94.9 percent, were automatically assigned by Regos (Central Register of Insured Persons). Due to retirement or death, membership ceased for 2,454 insured persons in October.

In October, total net contributions paid into mandatory pension funds amounted to €133.1 million, while total payouts upon closing personal accounts from all OMFs were €48 million, or €13.4 million more compared to the previous month. According to Hanfa data, nominal monthly returns for Mirex at the end of October were 0.9 percent for category A, 0.7 percent for category B, and 0.2 percent for category C. Annual returns also had a positive sign in all three categories – category A recorded a growth of 17 percent, category B 12.3 percent, and category C 5.5 percent. Furthermore, year-to-date returns were 11.3 percent for category A, 7.8 percent for category B, and 2.8 percent for category C, while annualized returns since the inception of OMFs were 7.7 percent for Mirex A, 5.4 percent for Mirex B, and 3.4 percent for Mirex C, Hanfa reported.

By the end of October, 78 percent of members were in category B, 17.8 percent in category A, and 4.2 percent in category C of the total number of OMF members. Bonds remained the dominant form of investment in the structure of OMFs at the end of October, with €13.8 billion and a share of 60.8 percent, although this share decreased by 0.3 percentage points on a monthly basis. At the same time, the representation of investments in stocks increased by 0.1 percentage points, amounting to €5.2 billion or 23 percent of OMF assets at the end of September. Among other forms of investment, investments in mutual funds were the most represented, with €2.3 billion and a share of 10.2 percent across all mandatory pension funds, according to Hanfa data for the second pillar of pension savings (individual capitalized savings).

Net assets of voluntary pension funds increased by €10.7 million

At the end of October, there were also eight open voluntary pension funds (ODMF) operating in Croatia, which had 412,459 members, and 21 closed voluntary pension funds (ZDMF), with 49,148 members. Total monthly contributions to voluntary pension funds (DMF) amounted to €10.2 million, an increase of 0.3 percent compared to the previous month. Total monthly payouts from DMFs amounted to €4.4 million, which is 3.1 percent higher on a monthly basis.

Thus, net assets of DMFs in October amounted to €1.4 billion, with an increase of €10.7 million or 0.8 percent on a monthly basis. In terms of DMF investments, the largest part of the portfolio consists of bonds, with a share of 56.2 percent in total net assets, followed by stocks with 25.6 percent and mutual funds with 10.1 percent.

Profit of leasing companies increased by 8.9 percent

Among other things, Hanfa also published data on leasing companies, and the total assets of 15 of them at the end of the third quarter amounted to €4.1 billion, representing an annual growth of 18.9 percent. At the same time, the total profit of leasing companies increased by 8.9 percent year-on-year, amounting to €54.2 million. In the third quarter of 2024, 21 legal entities authorized to provide investment services operated, namely six investment companies, 11 credit institutions, and four companies managing investment funds.

On an annual basis, the value of assets managed by investment companies increased by 26.1 percent, companies managing investment funds by 12 percent, while credit institutions recorded a decline of 7.4 percent. The total assets under the custody of investment companies amounted to €1 billion in September 2024, representing a quarterly growth of 0.8 percent, while the assets under the custody of credit institutions increased by 1.7 percent, amounting to €20 billion.

Hanfa also reported that the total net assets of 115 UCITS funds (open investment funds with public offering), which operated in Croatia in October, amounted to €3 billion at the end of the month, an increase of €72.4 million or 2.4 percent compared to the previous month. The net assets of the Fund for Croatian War Veterans and their families at the end of October amounted to €196 million, with a monthly growth of 8.9 percent, while the monthly return of the fund was 9 percent, according to Hanfa data.