Pension funds (OMF): how to read accounting units and where the funds hold money on the ZSE
Mandatory pension funds (OMF) manage the compulsory second-pillar savings of almost every employed person in Croatia. For most people it is the largest single financial position they have — and at the same time the one they look at least often. The data is public: HANFA publishes accounting-unit values monthly, and the ZSE and SKDD publish lists of the largest shareholders of individual companies. This text explains how to read that data, with figures as of 31 May 2026 available on our pension funds page.
A note before the numbers: this is a factual overview, not a ranking and not a recommendation. The categories differ in their permitted equity exposure, so comparing the returns of category A and category C makes no sense — they are different products with different purposes.
Three categories, three different profiles
Each of the four OMFs (AZ, Erste Plavi, PBZ CO, Raiffeisen) offers three categories:
- Category A — the highest permitted equity exposure, intended for those with the most time left to retirement. Entry is voluntary.
- Category B — the default category members are assigned to if they do not choose another. Balanced exposure.
- Category C — predominantly bonds, mandatory for members in the last five years before retirement.
The logic is simple: the longer the period to payout, the larger the fluctuations in value that can be tolerated. That is why the numbers below differ so much between categories.
What the accounting units show as of 31 May 2026
Category A — YTD returns range from +4.97% (Raiffeisen A) to +10.12% (Erste Plavi A). Over one year the range is +11.85% to +20.72%, and over ten years from +88.63% to +162.53%.
Category B — YTD from +2.73% (Raiffeisen B) to +7.50% (Erste Plavi B); one year +6.64% to +15.05%; ten years +54.97% to +97.75%.
Category C — YTD from +0.55% to +0.74%, one year +1.41% to +1.76%, ten years +27.50% to +35.39%.
The range within the same category is what is interesting. In category A the difference between the highest and the lowest ten-year return is about 74 percentage points. Over decades of saving that is not a cosmetic difference — but by itself it is no proof that the same ordering will hold in the future. A historical return is a fact about the past, nothing more.
Mirex as a benchmark
Alongside each fund, Mirex is published — a composite return index of all funds in the same category. It is useful because it provides a benchmark without ranking the funds against each other: as of 31 May 2026 Mirex A was at +9.81% YTD, Mirex B +5.10%, Mirex C +0.58%.
Comparing an individual fund with the Mirex of the same category shows whether the fund was above or below the average of its group in the observed period. On the chart on our page all series start from 100, so movements are compared directly, without absolute unit values.
Where the OMFs actually hold money on the Zagreb Stock Exchange
The second part of the story is more concrete than percentages. Public top-10 shareholder lists show in which ZSE companies the pension industry is most present. According to the snapshot of 14 July 2026:
| Stock | Combined OMF stake |
|---|---|
| VILLA DUBROVNIK (VIDU) | 96.12% |
| MODRA ŠPILJA (MDSP) | 95.50% |
| JADRAN (JDRN) | 89.31% |
| VIS (VIS) | 86.95% |
| Quattro logistika (QTLG) | 78.92% |
| PROFESSIO ENERGIA (DLPR) | 78.53% |
| HELIOS FAROS (HEFA) | 76.98% |
For better-known names the stakes are lower but still significant: Podravka 45.40%, KONČAR – Elektroindustrija 37.29%, Čakovečki mlinovi 34.96%, Atlantic Grupa 29.19%, Luka Rijeka 30.28%.
Why is this worth knowing? A high share of institutional owners in practice means a smaller free float — fewer shares that actually circulate in the market. That affects liquidity and how much the price moves on relatively small orders. It is neither good nor bad news in itself; it is a characteristic worth keeping in mind when looking at a stock's daily turnover.
The third pillar: voluntary funds
Alongside the mandatory funds, voluntary pension funds (DMF) also appear in the shareholder lists. According to our snapshots, the largest by market value of ZSE positions are AZ Profit (€81.65M, 17 positions in top-10 lists) and Raiffeisen DMF (€58.32M, 10 positions), followed by Erste Plavi Expert (€8.14M) and AZ Benefit (€3.57M).
An open DMF is available to anyone, while a closed one is tied to an employer or a professional group — the lists include the AZ Zaba, Cestarski, Erste, Nestlé and Pošta closed DMFs, all with small ZSE positions. It should be stressed: this is not a register of all voluntary funds in Croatia, only those that appear in publicly published top-10 shareholder lists.
How to use this data
A few practical notes:
- Check which category you are in. If you never chose, you are probably in B. Switching to A or C is your decision and depends on how much time you have to retirement — not on which category had the higher return last year.
- The data lags by a month. HANFA publishes units monthly, so the freshest common cut-off is always the end of the previous month. For daily market movements the ZSE indices are more useful.
- Compare within a category. Fund A against fund A, with Mirex A as the benchmark. Any other comparison mixes different risk profiles.
- Return is not the only criterion. Fees, portfolio structure and consistency of strategy through cycles are equally part of the picture, and they are not visible in a single number.
All the figures above and their sources are available on the Pension funds page, and the calculation method is described in the methodology.
Sources: HANFA public releases (accounting units, as of 31 May 2026), ZSE/SKDD top-10 shareholder lists (snapshot 14 July 2026). This text is informational and presents a factual overview of publicly published data. It contains no investment recommendations or advice, is not an invitation to buy or sell any financial instrument, and guarantees no future returns. Past returns are not an indicator of future results.