83% OF CROATIAN CITIZENS ARE BANK CLIENTS

ZAGREB, Feb 23 (Hina) - Eighty-three percent of Croatian citizens of age use bank services, while 17% do not use any bank product or service and as much as 57% claim that after they pay their basic expenses they have no money left to open a savings account. #L# These are the results of a survey conducted in 2002 by the Zagreb- based market research centre GfK. According to the share of bank clients in the overall population, Croatia is among the first three countries of Central and East Europe, Slovenia being second with 99% bank clients and Austria being first, with 97% bank clients. Croatia shares the same place with the Czech Republic (83%), followed by Slovakia (82%), Hungary (66%), Poland (57%), Yugoslavia (52%), Russia (49%), Romania (35%) and Bulgaria (22%). Most bank clients in Croatia have current kuna accounts and almost all of them have at least one account. With regard to other types of bank services, the most frequent ones are loans, with 19% of bank clients having been granted a loan. The most frequently granted are non-earmarked cash loans (9%), loans for the purchase of vehicles (5%) and housing loans (3%). While 57% of citizens state that they have no extra money to open a savings account, 23% have savings accounts (foreign currency or kuna), while 12% keep their savings at home. The citizens' trust in banks is growing. According to the research, one-third believe there are no risks for their savings, while 15% believe that the risk of keeping money in a bank is high. In 2001, 27% believed there were no risks involved, while 19% believed that the risk was high. In 2000, 32% of respondents said the risk of keeping savings in banks was high, while 20% believed there was no risk. More than one-third of respondents believe that trust is the most important criterion in selecting a bank. The survey included 4,000 respondents. (hina) rml