Includes special features of this country’s banking system and rules/laws that might impact U.S. business.
Last Published: 5/31/2019

Banking is considered to be one of the strongest sectors of the Croatian economy, primarily thanks to efficient regulation and relatively disciplined borrowers.

The Croatian banking sector includes twenty banks and four home saving banks with predominately foreign ownership (around 90%).  Eleven of the foreign-owned banks are owned by shareholders from the European Union.  In addition to the domestic banking institutions, almost 150 institutions from the European Union provide some services in Croatia.

The Croatian banking system is comparable to other Central and Eastern Eruopean countries.  Croatia’s total capital ratio is above the European Union average which makes the banking system relatively stable and recession resistant.  However, interest rates are high and there is a high proportion of foreign-currency denominated loans in Croatia as compared to the Eurozone.  The Croatian National Bank has addressed this issue by increasing deposit requirements and encouraging banks to make loans in the local currency.  

The Croatian National Bank (CNB) is the independent regulator established in 1990. Its primary objective is to maintain price stability and the stability of the financial system as a whole, by means of monetary and exchange rate policies, issuing money, and maintaining national monetary reserves.  The CNB also regulates and supervises credit institutions, issues and revokes their licenses, and manages the interbank Real Time Gross Settlement System.  The instruments of monetary policy at the CNB’s disposal are market operations (repo and reverse repo auctions), intra-day and overnight Lombard loans, the mandatory reserve requirement (currently at 12% of total liabilities), CNB bills auctions and short-term liquidity loans.  In order to manage the exchange rate, the CNB uses daily auctions and the minimum mandatory FX requirement.  The CNB participates in the European Union project Single Euro Payments Area – SEPA, with the aim to create a single market for payment services to enable citizens, business entities and public authorities to make cashless euro payment transactions under the same basic conditions, rights and obligations, regardless of their location.

The CNB became an integral part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) on July 1, 2013 with Croatian accession to the European Union.  In 2018, Croatia met the Maastricht requirements and started the five to ten year process of which will result in the Euro becoming Croatia’s official currency. 

The interests of the banking sector are represented by the Croatian Banking Association (HUB) and the Banking Association within the Croatian Chamber of Economy (HGK).  More information on the Croatian banking sector and individual banks can be found at Banks Bulletin.

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.