Banks' Risks in the Context of Banking Operations in the Republic of Croatia

Banke su poduzeća koja se nerijetko doživljavaju drugačijima od drugih poslovnih subjekata na tržištu. Uobičajeno, svaki investitor ima intenciju ostvariti što veći povrat na ulaganje, kao što i svaka uprava nastoji ostvariti što veći rast poslovanja, a uz što manje izlaganje riziku. Ipak, javno je mnijenje kako banke, uz to što trebaju zadovoljiti interese investitora, tj. dioničara, trebaju voditi računa o javnim i društvenim ciljevima. Navedeno se izvodi iz činjenice kako stabilnost i profitabilnost bankarskog sustava u konačnici proizlazi iz stabilne i profitabilne realne ekonomije. Banke, kako bi minimalizirale potencijalne gubitke, upravljaju bankarskim rizicima. Pritom, banke posebice upućuju pažnju na upravljanje kreditnim rizikom, cjenovnim rizikom, valutnim rizikom i rizikom likvidnosti. Navedeni rizici najkarakterističniji su za banke i mogu rezultirati krizom u poslovanju banke, bankarskog sustava, a u konačnici i cjelokupnog gospodarstva uslijed efekta prelijevanja. Kriza može biti potaknuta mikroekonomskim ili makroekonomskim uzročnicima. Pritom, mikroekonomski uzročnici, a među kojima se posebno ističe loše upravljanje, u konačnici su ishodište svake krize u poslovanju svih poslovnih subjekata pa tako i banaka. U radu su bankarski rizici stavljeni u kontekst poslovanja banaka u Republici Hrvatskoj, a promatrani su kroz analizu bankarskog sustava u Republici Hrvatskoj tijekom tri etape. U prvoj etapi, tj. tijekom devedesetih godina prošlog stoljeća, banke u Republici Hrvatskoj, generalno, nisu imale jasno definirane ciljeve poslovanja, a državne banke nisu bile tržišno orijentirane. Druga etapa započinje završetkom privatizacije velikih banaka u državnom vlasništvu i karakterizira je kreditna ekspanzija, tj. sklonost banaka ka preuzimanju kreditnog rizika. Treća etapa započinje pojavom kreditnog loma tj. zaustavljanjem kreditiranja od strane banaka, a ista traje do danas. Banke u Republici Hrvatskoj težile su minimalizirati izloženost bankarskim rizicima, ali su pritom rizike prenijele na svoje klijente. Iako su osigurali jasan zakonski i regulatorni okvir kako bi bankarski sustav bio stabilan, zakonodavac i Hrvatska narodna banka, propustili su na vrijeme zaštiti klijente banaka, a u konačnici je navedeno produbilo gospodarsku krizu u Republici Hrvatskoj, a samim time ugrozilo stabilnost bakarskog sustava i učinilo neizvjesnim daljnji razvoj situacije.Banks are businesses that are infrequently perceived differently from other businesses in the market. Typically, every investor has the intention to achieve a greater return on investment just like every administration tries to achieve a greater growth of business with little exposure to risk. However, public opinion is that banks, in addition for their need to satisfy the interests of investors, namely shareholders, should also be aware of public and social objectives. The above arises from the fact that the stability and profitability of the banking system ultimately derives from a stable and profitable real economy. Banks, in order to minimize potential losses, manage banks' risks. While doing so, banks point attention to credit risk management, price risk management, currency risk management and liquidity risk management. These risks are the most characteristic for banks and they can lead to a bank or banking system crisis which can ultimately affect the entire economy due to spill-over effect. The crisis can be triggered by micro-economic or macro-economic causes. The micro-economic causes, apart from them being poor management, are ultimately the source of all crises in business operations including banks. In this paper, banks' risks are put in the context of banking operations in the Republic of Croatia and they are observed through an analysis of the banking system in the Republic of Croatia in three stages. In the first stage, ie. during the nineties of the last century, banks in the Republic of Croatia, generally, did not have clearly defined business objectives, and the state banks were not market-oriented. The second stage begins upon completion of privatization of large state-owned banks and is characterized by the credit expansion, ie. the tendency of banks towards taking credit risk. The third stage begins with the advent of the credit crunch ie. banks stopped lending and the same continues today. Banks in the Republic of Croatia tended to minimize exposure to risks, while they transferred the risks to their customers. Even though they provided a clear legal and regulatory framework so that the banking system would be stable, the legislator and the Croatian National Bank, failed to timely protect customers of banks, but ultimately the indicated deepened the economic crisis in the Republic of Croatia, and thus endangered the stability of the banking system and made uncertain the further development of the situation