Sabor debates proposal on open-end investment funds with public offering

Zagreb - Lawmakers on Tuesday discussed the government's bill of amendments to the Law on Open-End Investment Funds with a Public Offering.

Josip Begonja of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) praised the bill, wondering how Croatian citizens, who mostly save in real estate, could be motivated to invest in investment funds.

Inflation is a sufficient motivator to invest money because it loses much more value than when inflation is lower, said the State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, Stjepan Čuraj, noting that investing in funds always carries a certain risk.

He said that 93 investment funds are currently active in Croatia, with assets of just over HRK 17 billion at the end of April.

Čuraj explained that the bill seeks to align Croatia's legal framework for open-end investment funds with the EU acquis, specifically a directive from December 2021, whose deadline for transposition is 30 June.

Boris Lalovac (SDP) enquired about the number of small investors and how much of the quoted HRK 17.5 billion they possess. Lalovac added that in recent months indices and the value of investment funds had fallen by 10% to 15%.

Čuraj could not specify how many individual investors there were in investment funds.

The bill prescribes the obligation to submit a single document with all key information on investments so that small investors can understand and compare the key features of their investments, said Čuraj.