Our capital markets competence in Croatia

	Our capital markets competence in Croatia Erste Bank Croatia is the third largest bank in Croatia in terms of assets. Erste Bank Croatia’s capital markets clients profit from tailor-made solutions based on its broad knowledge and extensive experience in the capital markets business.

Erste Group in Croatia

Erste&Steiermärkische Bank d.d., also known as Erste Bank Croatia, has been operating under this name since 2003, following the merger of Riječka banka d.d., Rijeka and Erste&Steiermärkische Bank d.d., Zagreb. Both banks had always played an important role on the Croatian financial market. Riječka banka was established in 1954 and became the leading bank in Rijeka, Primorje and Istria Region. Erste&Steiermärkische Bank d.d. Zagreb, was established in 2000 accompanied by a merger of three successful regional Croatian banks: Bjelovarska banka, Trgovačka banka and Čakovečka banka. Today, Erste Bank Croatia has a network of 131 branches, 13 commercial centers, 8 SME and 9 profit centers for corporate clients and operates a network of 714 ATMs. Bank had a market share of 15.39% by assets at the end of June 2019 and ranked 3rd on the Croatian market, serving more than 860,000 clients.

Capital markets business in Croatia

Erste Bank Croatia offers a wide range of treasury and capital markets products to corporate and institutional clients. Furthermore, the bank offers structured products and different hedging strategies. As a client oriented bank, Erste Bank Croatia's services correspond to clients' needs. It has developed a strong business relationship with its clients based on sound understanding of their operations. Erste Bank Croatia's institutional and corporate clients profit from tailor-made solutions based on its broad knowledge and extensive experience in the capital markets business.

Our team of sales professionals is the only such team in Croatia organized by segments so they are specialized to cover various categories of investors such as institutional investors, retail and corporate investors, thereby facilitating the most suitable approach to each group of investors. Also, sales team in Croatia has established excellent business relationships with all relevant qualified investors in the country as well as in the region of Southeast Europe (Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and North Macedonia), thereby ensuring optimal coverage of the investor base. In addition, we are the only arranger in Croatia with a proven track record of selling bonds to the retail clients category.

Underlining its position as one of the leading banks on the Zagreb stock exchange, Erste Bank Croatia is the leading bond trader and one of top equity brokers in recent years based on turnover. As well, Erste bank Croatia is the leading domestic bond originator in the Republic of Croatia and the region, where it has participated and successfully executed many domestic and international transactions. Namely, in addition to Croatia, our capital markets team is also covering Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.

Market insight Croatia

Croatia presented a major turnaround in the last few years, which is underpinned by fundamentals. Excessive deficits and imbalances are long gone, which brought Croatia back to investment grade and allowed for euro-adoption aspirations. Our baseline remains ERM II entry in 2020 – signaling an increasing likelihood of 2023/24 euro adoption. With regard to the outlook, our baseline envisages GDP growth in 2.5-3.0% band in the coming years. The gloomy external demand outlook remains a negative, but on the other hand, domestic demand remains in good shape. Private consumption continues to profit from anticipated close to 2% employment growth, mid-single-digit wage growth, still low inflation pressures and above-EU average consumer confidence. The current growth trajectory supports the investment grade rating, while the focus shifts more towards increasing potential GDP growth. Progress here has been rather limited, but we will hopefully see some progress in the euro-adoption story. In the meantime, we see GDP growth outpacing the EU average in the near term, while EU funds could play increasingly counter-cyclical role and bring Croatia towards higher-end of CEE spectrum.

Branimir Britvić

Head of Capital Markets

Erste&Steiermärkische Bank d.d.
Ivana Lučića 2
10000 Zagreb
Tel.: +385 (0)72 37 1050
bbritvic@erstebank.com

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