Hagena Director Dragan Kovacevic said in his opening remarks that pension funds in Croatia currently had about seven billion kuna (approximately 930 million euros) in assets. "Already now the funds represent a huge potential for development, and in the future they will accumulate more capital for development projects," he said.
Kovacevic said that the pension funds had invested most of their assets in government bonds, but that now they were considering specific investment projects.
The conference attracted more than 130 participants from Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Macedonia and Poland. Its main purpose is to promote an exchange of experiences and cooperation among domestic financial institutions and agencies and institutions monitoring the pension markets in the foreign countries.
Over the next two days the participants will discuss topics such as potential for the development of the fund industry, pension funds and their investment policies, challenges of the European Union and adjustment to its financial standards, and the relationship between the capital market and the fund industry.