Bank Profitability in Conditions of Economic Crisis – The Analysis of Banks in Croatia

Globalna financijska kriza, a potom i gospodarska kriza, u proteklih nekoliko godina utjecale su na usporavanje poslovanja banaka te na smanjenje njihove dobiti. Ta spoznaja temelj je za provoðenje istraživanja profitabilnosti banaka u Hrvatskoj, uzimajući pritom u obzir činjenicu da je kriza u Hrvatskoj nastupila s određenim vremenskim odmakom u odnosu na zemlje članice Europske unije. Polazi se od pretpostavke da banke u Hrvatskoj, suprotno percepciji dijela javnosti, nisu imune na turbulentnosti u okruženju te da osjećaju posljedice gospodarske krize. Predmet rada je profitabilnost banaka u Hrvatskoj u posljednjih nekoliko godina, a cilj je istražiti relevantne čimbenike utjecaja na profitabilnost banaka u domaćem okruženju. Svrha istraživanja je na temelju informacija iz financijskih izvještaja, a pomoću odabranih pokazatelja, objektivno objasniti zavisnu varijablu, odnosno profitabilnost banaka.In few recent years global financial crisis, and economic crisis after it, affected on slowing down of bank business activities and on decreasing their earnings. This cognition is a basis for conducting bank profitability research in Croatia, considering the fact that crisis in Croatia took place with certain time lag in comparison with member states of the European Union. The starting point is the fact that banks in Croatia, opposite to perception of part of public, are not immune on turbulences in the environment and that they feel consequences of economic crisis. The object of this paper is bank profitability in Croatia during few recent years and the aim is to investigate relevant influence factors on bank profitability in domestic environment. Based on the information from financial statements and using chosen indicators, the purpose of this research is to objectively explain bank profitability as dependent variable