The systemic risk buffer is governed by Articles 129 to 134 of the Credit Institutions Act. The Croatian National Bank determines the level of structural systemic risk buffer rate within the legal range of 0% to 3% based on analyses of the structural elements of financial stability and a comprehensive assessment of risks for the economy as regularly carried out by the CNB. It can be applied to all credit institutions or to one or more sub-groups of credit institutions and to all exposures or sub-groups of exposures.
The obligation to maintain the systemic risk buffer for all credit institutions with head offices in the Republic of Croatia was introduced in 2014 and its rate stood at 1.5% or 3% of the total risk exposure amount, depending on the size of the credit institution. From 29 December 2020, the systemic risk buffer rate for credit institutions stands at 1.5% and it is added to the buffer rate for other systemically important institutions (O-SIIs).