The Croatian National Bank today hosted a meeting between the representatives of the Croatian, Austrian and Italian banking supervisory authorities and the representatives of the largest domestic banks and their foreign parent banking groups. Also participating at the meeting were the representatives of the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank, European Banking Authority, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank and European Commission.

The meeting was organised within the so-called second Vienna Initiative, as the first forum of the kind, with a view to enabling, through a cooperative and open exchange of views on the current economic and regulatory conditions in Croatia and in the banking groups' home countries, a discussion on the activities and plans of the major participants in the Croatian banking system. A frank discussion featured an exchange of opinions on the potential of the Croatian financial market and the strategy for the further development of the most important Croatian banking groups, as well as on the preconditions for the preservation of the financial stability in Croatia. Special emphasis was put on the coordination of regulators aimed at bringing the functioning of the Croatian financial system in line with the needs of the economy. Also discussed were the cross-border cooperation of supervisory authorities and the possible implications of establishing a banking union in the EU.