Preliminary communication
FINANCIAL POTENTIAL OF CROATIAN BANKS, CHARACTERISTICS AND GROWTH PROJECTION
Antun Jurman
Abstract
Banks are financial institutions whose main business operation is gathering and raising financial means and directing them to clients in the form of credit and non-credit placements. The financial potential of banks, i.e. the complete financial sources, was around 300 bn kunas at the end of 2006. The most important sector shaping the financial potential of banks is that of the population with a share of about 37.6%; banking institutions, mainly foreign, account for about 26%, the share of companies is about 15.4% while the share of central and local administration is 4.4%. Research results show that in the past thirteen-year-period there has been a positive, linear and very close connection between the financial potential and domestic sources of the banks and the Croatian GDP. Results also show that the changes in the financial potential and domestic sources for the banks react elastically to changes in the GDP. The realized Croatian GDP is actually the main source for the shaping of deposits made by the population and legal persons, as well as for other sources pointing, therefore, to the necessity for the banks to change the past crediting policy. Credits to the population, as the largest share in crediting, should be significantly slowed down, while financial monitoring of current operations and development of economic subjects should be significantly increased. A more intense credit monitoring of the economy would result in a stronger increase of the GDP and the financial potential of banks, while the system of multiplication of credits and deposits would enable banks to strengthen their deposit base and profitability.
Keywords
deposits; credits; financial potential; gross domestic product; correlation; elasticity
Hrčak ID:
38198
URI
Publication date:
15.3.2009.
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