May the 3rd, 2023 - There are some rather obscure institutions in Croatia, and when you begin living any form of real life here, you'll run into several of them. One institution that is worth familiarising yourself with is FINA, or the Financial Agency.

A brief history of FINA

FINA has been around for around half a century, but has only had its current name since 2002. Formerly known as the Payment Transactions Institute, or the Social Bookkeeping Service, it was the only entity in all of the former Yugoslavia which was able to authorise and execute domestic transactions. It has played a key role in many reforms, from the pension reform to the payment reform, and it has regional centre in the cities of Osijek, Zagreb, Rijeka and Split. There are also many other smaller branches dotted all over the country, and an interactive map of them can be found here.

What actually is it?

Are these offices banks? Tax office branches? Kind of, but no. FINA is Croatia's leading financial and electronic service provider. It deals with business information, cash operations, payment transactions, education, e-business services of various kinds, financial mediation, payment transactions and so on. It has quite the portfolio. It even offers safety deposit boxes.

It isn't a bank (although it might look like a small one at first glance), but it does have close cooperation with the Croatian National Bank (CNB/HNB) and other banks operating in Croatia. It describes itself as a public company which operates according to the stringent rules which regulate the activities of the free market, and it is also a government partner. 

According to its website, FINA has ''a longstanding tradition in business, its strength being mirrored in the successful implementation of large scale projects in the public sector, the implementation of legislation, computerisation and the enhancement of public services, and sharing knowledge and expertise of employees in the finance, electronic, cash and other services, aswell as responding to the needs of all client categories.''

In order words, FINA will be a repeated theme in your life if you own a company, or intend to open one. 

FINA also has agreements with numerous different utility providers in Croatia, and these are: 

HEP OPSKRBA d.o.o.

HEP TOPLINARSTVO d.o.o.

PEOVICA d.o.o.

VODOOPSKRBA I ODVODNJA CRES LOŠINJ d.o.o.

KOMUNALNE USLUGE CRES LOŠINJ d.o.o.

DUNDOVO d.o.o.

HEP ELEKTRA d.o.o.

Digital certificates FINA issues and deals with

FINA issues numerous different digital certificates, and these are:

A qualified electronic time stamp

CA certificates

Fina's PKI system

Conformation and legislation documents and certificates

Certificate revocation lists (CRLs)

A tool with which you can search certificates

FINA's register of digital certificates

More information about each of these certificates can be accessed via FINA savings. You can also find out about how to obtain any of the aforementioned documents/certificates here.

E-business, e-invoice and e-payment services

Being the driver of digitalisation in business in Croatia, FINA naturally deals with e-business, which allows users to issue e-invoices and deal in e-payments. The e-business service enables the entry, signing, sending and timestamping of e-invoices, e-invoice receipt certificates, change of e-invoice status, the archiving and search of e-invoices, the use of templates, the graphic personalisation of e-invoices (such as company logos and so on), and their matching to payment orders. FINA's e-nvoice service is connected with the Internet banking services provided by all Croatian banks which hold a valid business cooperation contract with FINA, and which enables the automated preparation of electronic payment orders for all kinds of purchased goods and services.

FINA uses a tool called PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) for its e-business system, which, via its cross-border e-procudrement system, includes the issuing of e-invoices and making e-payments. You can find much more information about PEPPOL and how it works with invoicing Croatian state beneficiaries by clicking here.

What FINA does for the Croatian Government

As mentioned previously, FINA is a very close and important partner of the government, and as such it carries out numerous services and deals with various products for the state. This is where the ''Is FINA a tax office?'' question comes into play. In short, no it isn't, but it does have a lot to do with the supervision of compulsory contribution, surtax and tax payments. It's also where the ''Is FINA a bank?'' question might be asked, and again, no, it isn't, but it is heavily involved with all significant national treasury activities.

In short, FINA is involved with the following government agencies, providing various products and services:

HITRO and HITRONet (Croatian Government communication network)

REGOS (Registry of Insured Individuals)

RegZap (Public Sector Employees Registry)

The National Treasury System

e-File (Ministry of Justice)

The Blue Diesel Consumption Supervisory System

The Funds Enforcement System

The Registry of Court and Notary Services

You can find out about what each of these systems do, which state entity they're affiliated with, and how FINA provides services for them by clicking here.

For more on moving to, living in and travelling to and from Croatia, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section. Keep an eye out for our How to Croatia articles which tackle a different aspect of doing things here and which are published every Wednesday.

March the 21st, 2023 - Is it all over for the enfeebled Split shipyard Brodosplit? After struggling for a considerable amount of time now, Fina is proposing Brodosplit bankruptcy proceedings owing to a debt of over 20 million euros.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Financial Agency (FINA) has officially submitted a proposal to the Commercial Court in Split to open Brodosplit bankruptcy proceedings, stating that the company has unpaid bases for payment of a massive 23.8 million euros.

According to FINA's information, as of March the 9th, 2023, the debtor has had unexecuted payment bases for a continuous period of 120 days, in the total amount of 23,828,527.04 euros, recorded in the Register of the Order of Payment Basis.

When we look at the data on the number of Brodosplit employees submitted to the Financial Agency by the Croatian Institute for Pension Insurance, the debtor has 99 employees. This could be seen in FINA's proposal which was published last week on the e-bulletin of the courts. FIBA as such submitted a new proposal to launch Brodosplit bankruptcy proceedings, and this proposal arrived at the Split Commercial Court on March the 10th. It was also published on the eOglasna panel. A hearing has been announced for March the 24th to comment on the proposal to open bankruptcy proceedings against the Split shipyard.

This followed after the High Commercial Court (VTS) rejected the appeal of the owner of Brodosplit, Tomislav Debeljak, against the decision of the Split Court to initiate a new pre-bankruptcy procedure. VTS granted the right to judge Ivan Culic to continue ex officio proceedings after the suspension of the pre-bankruptcy settlement proceedings as if a proposal to open Brodosplit bankruptcy had been submitted.

VTS believes that bankruptcy can only be prevented now with the offer of evidence of liquidity and the full payment of Brodosplit's obligations to its creditors. At the Commercial Court in Split, these cases are classified by automatic allocation, and as such, this new proposal was assigned to Judge Ana Golub Gruic.

Given that a hearing for Brodosplit is scheduled for March the 24th, 2023, at the Commercial Court, it is most likely that the new proposal for Brodosplit bankruptcy proceedings that has just arrived will be added to the existing one overseen by Judge Ivan Culic, given that it isn't possible to decide on two proposals.

For more, check out our business section.

June 27, 2022 - You see them on the street, you see them on your bills, and you hear them on the phone. Who is who among the Croatian public services and institutions? We'll tell you more in this short guide.

If moving to Croatia is one of your short-term projects, or even if you're already in the process of adaptation, you may have heard of or been in contact with one of these institutions. These Croatian public services and institutions will be part of your daily life here, and it is true that sometimes it can be a bit confusing trying to distinguish them from each other.

In this short guide, we've listed some of the Croatian public services and institutions that you will be in contact with most often, and we hope that this will help you when you don't know where to go for a certain task, or when it's time to do your accounts at home.

MUP

If you're working on getting your residency or citizenship in Croatia, you have most likely gone to a local MUP office. It's also likely that they've called you on the phone or have written you an email or two. MUP is the Ministry of the Interior, and it provides services to both locals and foreigners alike. At MUP, you will also carry out procedures to obtain your passport, your driver's license, your Croatian identification card, and more.

HZZO 

HZZO is the Croatian Health Insurance Fund, it's part of the Ministry of the Health and it includes everything that is related to public health insurance services in the country. As you well know, public health insurance is mandatory if you reside in Croatia. If you wish to enroll in the Croatian public health system, you must go to the HZZO offices in your city of residence. There you can also find out everything related to your health coverage, sign up with a family doctor, and more.

HZZ

HZZ is the Croatian Employment Office, and it serves to report your current employment status, whether you've found a job or if you don't currently have one. At the Employment Office, you can also find job openings that match your skills. 

HZMO

The Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) is a public institution that is dedicated to the implementation of mandatory pension insurance based on generational solidarity (1st pillar of the pension insurance) and the child benefit entitlement procedure.

Porezna uprava

Porezna uprava is the Croatian Tax Administration, and it's a unique and independent administrative organisation within the Finance Ministry whose basic task is the application and supervision of tax regulations and laws on the collection of contributions. Most of your bills will be issued by Porezna uprava. They'll also issue you with tax rebates.

FINA

FINA, the Financial Agency, is a leading Croatian company in the field of financial and electronic service provision. Although state-owned, Fina operates exclusively on a market basis and cooperates with banks, the Croatian National Bank, numerous business systems, and other similar entities. A multitude of payments can be paid at their offices.

Hrvatska Pošta

Hrvatska Pošta is the Croatian Post Office, and it has locations in every city and town across the country. In addition to being the place where you can send letters and packages throughout the country and even abroad, it's also the place where you can pay for your phone, electricity, water, health insurance, and more.

HEP

A state-owned company, HEP is the Croatian Electricity Company and it is the only energy entity authorised to provide a public electricity supply in the Republic of Croatia. It also performs the activities of electricity production and heat production for central heating systems, in addition to the management, maintenance, construction, and development of the electricity distribution network.

HAC 

Hrvatske autoceste or Croatian Motorways Ltd is a Croatian state-owned limited liability company tasked with the management, construction, and maintenance of motorways in Croatia.

HRT

Croatian Radio and Television (HRT) performs the activity of providing public broadcasting services. On their radio and television channels, they dedicate themselves to the dissemination of news, information, culture and other related content. Even if you don't watch their channels or listen to their radio stations, a bill of 80 kuna from HRT will always arrive at your home.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 5 June 2022 - Enterprises based in the City of Zagreb netted HRK 23.6 billion in profit in 2021, accounting for 52.7% of the profit of all enterprises in Croatia, according to Financial Agency (FINA) data.

Enterprises based in the City of Zagreb, which also has county status, are first according to all criteria, except business efficiency.

A third of all enterprises in Croatia headquartered in Zagreb

The capital city has 47,956 enterprises, a national share of 33.2%, employing 370,800 workers (38.4%), and their revenue totals HRK 433.2 billion, or 48.9% of the revenue generated by all Croatian enterprises.

In 2021, enterprises in the City of Zagreb netted HRK 23.6bn in profit, up 99% on the year.

This was mainly due to the INA oil company with a profit of HRK 1.3bn, the HEP power utility with HRK 1.1 billion, and the Fortenova retail group with HRK 318.2 million. In 2020, Fortenova posted a loss of HRK 2.2bn.

Split-Dalmatia County had 15,908 enterprises last year with 81,050 employees, revenue totalling HRK 56.2bn and a net profit of HRK 2.56 billion, up 412.2% on the year.

Enterprises in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County netted HRK 2.2bn in profit last year, HRK 1.7bn more than in 2020. The county had 11,753 enterprises last year with 63,100 employees and revenue amounting to HRK 45.8bn.

Enterprises in Zadar County netted HRK 1.1bn in profit, up from HRK 74.3m in 2020. Last year 5,650 enterprises operated in the county, with 26,200 employees and HRK 17.6bn in revenue.

Zagreb County had 9,811 enterprises with 66,600 employees which generated HRK 67.8bn in revenue and HRK 2.7bn in net profit, up 16.4% on 2020.

Osijek-Baranja County had 6,134 enterprises with 43,400 employees which generated HRK 33.5bn in revenue and HRK 1.8bn in net profit, up 40.7% on 2020.

The counties with the smallest numbers of enterprises in 2021 were Lika-Senj (1,010), Požega-Slavonia (1,031) and Virovitica-Podravina (1,259). Enterprises in Lika-Senj County, for instance, had 4,918 employees and generated HRK 3bn in revenue as well as HRK 147.7m in profit.

Istria County had 11,785 enterprises last year which netted HRK 1.8bn in profit, mainly thanks to the profits of the tourism companies Valamar Riviera (HRK 304.6m), Maistra (HRK 170.6m) and Plava Laguna (HRK 145.1m).

Dubrovnik-Neretva County had 4,450 enterprises which netted HRK 517m in profit, while Šibenik-Knin County's enterprises netted HRK 217.9m in profit.

In terms of business efficiency, enterprises in Karlovac County came first, followed by those in Zadar and Krapina-Zagorje counties.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

ZAGREB, 30 April 2022 - A total of 9,158 businesses with 102,085 employees operated in the retail trade sector in Croatia in 2020, and the sector's consolidated result was a profit in the amount of HRK 2.2 billion, show data from the Financial Agency.

The number of retail businesses in 2020 was 3.1% up from the previous year.

In 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, those businesses earned revenues in the amount of HRK 101.5 billion, while their expenditure totalled HRK 98.8 billion.

A total of 5,450 businesses operated at a profit, a drop of 13% from the previous year while the number of loss-making businesses increased by 18.3% to 3,708.

Profit for the period amounted to HRK 3.2 billion, a drop of 6.9% from 2019, while the loss for the period dropped by 4.8% to 1.05 billion.

The consolidated financial result was a net profit of HRK 2.2 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 7.8%.

The average monthly net wage in the retail sector in 2020 was HRK 5,306, which is 8.7% more than in 2019 and 11.1% below the average monthly net wage in the enterprise sector in Croatia (5,971).

Konzum Plus with highest revenue

The Konzum Plus retailer earned the highest revenue in 2020, HRK 10 billion.

It is followed by Lidl Hrvatska, with HRK 6.1 billion, and Spar Hrvatska with HRK 5 billion.

The highest profit for the period in 2020 was earned by Lidl Hrvatska, in the amount of HRK 274.8 billion.

Number of employees, revenue, net profit increase between 2016 and 2020

In the period from 2016 to 2020, the number of employees in the retail sector grew by 12.1%, total revenue increased by 16.4%, expenditure by 15.3% and net profits by as much as 84%.

Retail businesses operated at a profit throughout the period, the highest profit being reported in 2019, amounting to HRK 2.3 billion.

The number of employees in the period grew by 11,058 or 12.1%, from 91,027 employees in 2016 to 102,085 in 2020.

The average net wage grew by 23.7% from HRK 4,288 in 2016 to HRK 5,306 in 2020.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

ZAGREB, 19 April 2022 - Revenues and the number of people on the payroll of camping businesses and campsite service providers rose on the year from 2016 to 2019, however, they dropped in the pandemic 2020, show the data collected by the Croatian Financial Agency (FINA).

However, the number of businesses in this sub-sector of outdoor tourism has increased from year to year: in 2016, there were 146 camping businesses in Croatia to grow to 165 in 2017, 177 in 2018, 187 in 2019 and 197 in 2020.

They employed as many as 1,354 workers in 2019, to see a drop to 1,169 in 2020, while in 2017 there were 1,226 employees and 1,224 workers were in those businesses in 2018.

Revenues according to annual financial statements

The revenues kept rising from nearly HRK 600 million in 2016, to HRK 662.5 million in 2017 and 855 million in 2018 to reach a record high 874 million in 2019 and in the pandemic 2020 it dropped to 585 million.

Five businesses earn 50% of total revenues in this sub-sector

In 2020, in terms of the volume of revenues and the number of employees, the top performer was the Rovinj-based Valalta.

Its revenues came to HRK 192.3 million, making up 33% of  total revenues in this tourism business activity. There were 333 employees on its payroll, and their average monthly salary was HRK 6,237.

The second-ranking business was Industrial Projects from Fažana, with the revenues of HRK 30 million and 31 employees.

The Zagreb-based Proficio ranked third, with the revenues of HRK 25.6 million and 74 employees.

The remaining top five included the Zagreb-based Noa with HRK 21.4 million in revenues in 2020 and 22 employees, and the Lošinjska Plovidba, based in Mali Lošinj, with 41.4 million kuna in revenues and 52 employees.

These five businesses realised a half of the total revenues of all camping businesses in 2020.

Also, Proficio ended the year in the red and its loss was HRK 18.1 million.

In 2020, 64% of businesses registered in the camping sub-sector registered losses, and 36% wrapped up the year in the black.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

April the 7th, 2022 - When it comes to Croatian state bodies, one could never argue that efficiency is in their arsenal. Slow, outdated practices of taking numbers, standing for hours in lines, needing stamps and being told off by miserable clerks is just the norm for many. It doesn't have to be. The Croatian digital era is finally seeing some progress.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, at a recently held conference in the City of Zagreb, the Central State Office for the Development of a Digital Society presented the current development of the "e-Business" project, which provides unique access to public electronic services for business users across the country.

These services include, among others, e-Authorisation services, issuing certificates that no criminal proceedings are being conducted, the delivery of electronic documents for vehicle registration in Croatia, a single information point - an infrastructure cadastre system and more. A Croatian digital era seemed like an impossible dream just a few years ago, but it seems we're finally catching up.

The e-Business project is being implemented by the aforementioned Central State Office together with the Financial Agency (Fina) and the Agency for Support of Information Systems and Information Technologies (APIS IT), as project partners. The project was co-financed by the European Union (EU) from the European Social Fund and is worth a massive 50,983,989.90 kuna.

The conference was opened by Bernard Grsic, State Secretary of the Central State Office for the Development of a Digital Society.

"As we have an e-Citizens (e-Gradjani) platform, by developing the e-Business platform, we're enabling Croatian companies, small enterprises and family farms (OPGs) to simplify and speed up their communication with public administration bodies. You don't have to go to their offices, to the counters, you don't have to wait in lines, things can now be solved with the click of a mouse,'' pointed out Grsic.

Easier communication with public/state administration bodies

Sasa Bilic, President of the Management Board of APIS IT, also addressed the audience.

"Along with the User Box that will be available to entrepreneurs as both a web and mobile app, the added value of this project is the construction of a modern and sophisticated business reporting system that will be the basis for all business decisions related to public services and their users," said Bilic.

The director of Fina's Digital Solutions Sector, Andreja Kajtaz, was also present.

"By upgrading NIAS and e-Authorisations through the e-Business project, we managed to complete the entire process of interaction between people and businesses with public administration bodies, and the success of the project is best evidenced by the growing number of business users," said Kajtaz.

The main goal of establishing an e-Business system is to positively affect competitiveness by facilitating communication with public administration bodies. The project, which is driving the Croatian digital era forward, directly contributes to the administrative burden faced by business entities through electronic communication with public administration bodies, saves their time and money and increases the availability of services because e-services are available to everyone under equal conditions, regardless of their business location or the device being used.

When the e-Business system is fully implemented, it is expected that over 450 thousand different business users across the nation could use its benefits. This primarily refers to legal entities registered in the Court Register and the registers of numerous associations, foundations and non-profit organisations, as well as enterprises registered in the Trade Register, as well as farmers and family farms registered in the Register of Agricultural Holdings.

For more, make sure to check out our lifestyle section.

ZAGREB, 5 April 2022 - The Central State Office for Digital Society (SDURDD) on Tuesday launched a new digital platform, called e-Poslovanje (e-Business), designed to facilitate communication between business entities and public administration bodies.

The platform, developed in partnership with the Financial Agency (FINA) and the Apis IT company, is available via the e-Građani (e-Citizens) portal, and the project, worth close to HRK 51 million, was co-financed with money from EU funds.

The platform builds on the e-Građani system, whose services are used by 1.6 million users, SDURDD state secretary Bernard Gršić said.

The e-Poslovanje platform integrates the different business services available in the e-Građani system, which can be used by both individual citizens and companies, Grčić said.

The project is still not complete, but the platform has been set up and currently has 10 active services, with 16 more being tested. Once everything is finished, the plan is for the e-Poslovanje portal to become a portal like e-Građani, said Gršić.

He noted that Croatia is at the bottom of the EU ranking in terms of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) but that in the past five years a lot had been done to change that and that 20.4% of the funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan was intended for investments in digitalisation and development of complex, integrated services, while HRK 2.9 billion was intended for the digital society and public administration component.

The head of FINA's digital solutions sector, Andreja Kajtaz, said that with e-Poslovanje FINA had regulated public services for business entities and for authorisation and power of attorney systems, having integrated a set of services for citizens and companies free of charge.

Apis IT CEO Saša Bilić said that the platform would spare entrepreneurs the paperwork.

March the 18th, 2022 - The Croatian Fina agency is planning on working on the decentralisation of its further development, placing much more of a focus on more smaller urban areas.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, the Croatian Fina agency has come together and contracted a partnership with University of Koprivnica North, regarding the exchange of knowledge and technology and cooperation in teaching and integrating students into the labour market.

According to the President of the Fina Management Board, Drazen Covic and the rector of the aforementioned university Marin Milkovic, the cooperation between the two institutions will include field teaching and practice within the Croatian Fina agency, designing assignments for final student work, scholarships for students and the possibility of their engagement in Fina through student services.

These partners will also transfer their knowledge to each other, and within the professional study of computer science and informatics in Koprivnica, new generations of IT people needed by the development centre will grow, which is otherwise one of ten that the agency opened throughout the Republic of Croatia several years ago. Such centres serve as central gathering points for the IT sector, according to Fina.

“It's a pleasure when we're able to do something for our students and when there's real care shown towards our young people. The possibility of scholarships, professional practice, training, learning from Fina's experts and creating future staff as we move forward for mutual benefit is commendable. Fina is also trying to operate in smaller urban areas, covering the whole of Croatia. That's how the staff in this region is retained and it contributes to further development,'' said Milkovic. Covic also emphasised the importance of cooperation with the academic community, as was previously achieved, for example, in Virovitica, Cakovec, Split and Bjelovar.

"Our strategic initiative is to decentralise our own development and get closer to the places where Fina operates. It's in our interest to develop the areas in which we work. We want to share the experience and knowledge we've gained by developing services both for the financial industry and the state. We want to enable young people to study without high costs in or near their place of residence and to work on modern tools and technologies,'' they said from Fina.

Aware that the market is full of IT experts who have the comfort to choose where to work from and even set their own conditions for potential employers, the Croatian Fina agency started creating models at the beginning of the year to attract and retain them. For this purpose, a redesign of the salary system was undertaken, which would take into account the complexity of the job, the availability of potential talent and abilities of the individual at hand.

For more, make sure to check out our business section.

March 4, 2022 - The European Water Polo Championships in Split will be held from August 27 to September 10, 2022, at Spaladium Arena. 

A special program awaits water polo this year, with the World and European Championships held just a few months apart. Namely, the first to be held is the pandemic-postponed World Aquatics Championships, and after the initial news that the Fukuoka tournament would be postponed yet again this summer, FINA announced in early February that the tournament would go on, but in Budapest instead from June 18 and July 3.

The world's best water polo players will thus compete in Hungary this summer - and just two months later, Split will host the European Water Polo Championship from August 27 to September 10. 

The 16 best national teams in Europe will compete at Split's Spaladium Arena this summer. The draw will take place on April 23. 

European Water Polo Championship, Split, August 27 to September 10:
Croatia
Greece
Hungary
Serbia
Spain
Italy
Germany
Montenegro
Georgia
Germany
Israel
Romania
Malta
Slovakia
Netherlands

The European umbrella organization for water sports (LEN) has decided that the Russia water polo team will not play in Split. LEN has banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in their competitions, both club and continental.

"The European Water Sports Federation (LEN) met yesterday and decided not to invite Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials to LEN events in response to the invasion of Russian forces in Ukraine, until further notice," LEN said in a statement, adding that no LEN competitions would be organized in Russia or Belarus until further notice.

LEN also expressed support for Ukrainian athletes and the Ukrainian people.

"LEN strongly condemns the actions of the Russian government supported by Belarus in its invasion of Ukraine. This act of war has ruined the lives of Ukrainian citizens and is completely contrary to the sporting spirit," LEN added.

In addition, LEN announced that it supports a concrete humanitarian initiative of the Croatian Art Swimming and Diving Associations to accommodate Ukrainian athletes and family members as refugees.

This project, supported by FINA, will allow athletes to continue to train and represent Ukraine in international competitions. This initiative is supported by the Ministry of Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Croatia, and the hosts will be Zagreb, Zadar, Rijeka, and others, according to the LEN website.

Source: Gol.hr

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.