The Croatian National Bank (; ), known until 1997 as the National Bank of Croatia (), is the central bank of the Republic of Croatia. Initially established in 1972 under the decentralization of the National Bank of Yugoslavia, it became a fully-fledged central bank in late 1991 with the independence of Croatia. The National Bank was subsequently responsible for the former national currency, the Croatian dinar from 1991 to 1994 and subsequently the Croatian kuna, until Croatian adoption of the euro and the National Bank's entry into the Eurosystem on .
The acronym for the National Bank in Croatian, as used in their logo, is HNB. The Bank uses the English-language acronym CNB in its publications in English.
The CNB's role was specified by the Constitution of Croatia which was passed by the Parliament of Croatia on 21 December 1990. In performing its duties, the CNB acts as an independent institution responsible to the Parliament. The bank has a share capital of 335,000,000 euros (c. US$450 million).
History
On 21 December 1990, the Constitution of Croatia, determined in article 53, named the National Bank as Croatia's central bank, and declared its responsibilities: "The National Bank is central bank of Republic of Croatia. The National Bank is responsible, within its rights and duties, for stability of the currency and for liquidity of payments in state and abroad. The National Bank is independent in its activity and responsible to Croatian Sabor. Profits made by National Bank belong to Croatian state budget. The position of the National Bank is established by law." In accordance with that provision, the National Bank was established under Croatian Law by Government Regulation of , a provisional act made permanent by legislation of November 1992.
In June 1995, even before the Croatian War of Independence had come to an end, the National Bank organized the first Dubrovnik Economic Conference (DEC), an annual event that has been held without interruption since then, including in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By amendments of Constitution of Croatia in 1997, the Bank's earlier name National Bank of Croatia () was changed to Croatian National Bank (). Also in 1997, the CNB became a full member of the Bank for International Settlements; Banking sector restructuring occurred throughout the 1990s, culminating in the resignation of all members of the CBN's Council led by Governor Marko Škreb in July 2000 in response to the Croatian Parliament's refusal to accept its report for 1998 and the first half of 1999.
Boris Vujčić joined the National Bank as head of its Research Department in 1996, became its Deputy Governor in 2000, and assumed the role of Governor in 2012.
Operations
The Croatian National Bank is the central bank of the Republic of Croatia and part of the European System of Central Banks. The primary objective of the CNB is maintaining price stability and the stability of the financial system as a whole. The Croatian National Bank executes monetary policy, manages international reserves of the Republic of Croatia, issues the Croatian currency - the kuna, issues authorisations of credit institutions, credit unions, payment institutions and electronic money institutions and supervises their operation. The CNB also issues authorisations of authorised exchange offices.
The Croatian National Bank is autonomous and independent in achieving its objective and carrying out its tasks. The CNB reports on its work to the Croatian Parliament.
Independence
The independence of the central bank is a key precondition for a successful and credible implementation of monetary policy and for the achievement of the main objective of the central bank - maintenance of price stability.