The Croatian National Bank issues authorisations to provide credit intermediation services in relation to consumer housing loans to legal persons entered in the register of companies, provided that they meet all the conditions prescribed in the Act on Consumer Housing Loans (Official Gazette no. 101/2017 and 128/2022, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’).
In accordance with Article 31, paragraph (6) of Act, the Croatian National Bank prescribed the procedure of submitting applications, the required forms and additional documentation in the Decision on the necessary knowledge and competence of staff of credit institutions and credit intermediaries and on the requirements and the procedure for authorisation to provide credit intermediation services (Official Gazette 107/2017 and 22/2019, hereinafter referred to as ‘Decision’).
The Annex to the Decision contains forms to be used in the procedure of granting authorisations for providing credit intermediation services in relation to consumer housing loans.
Other regulations which are, in part, applicable to the operations of a credit intermediary providing intermediation services in relation to consumer housing loans and which, in addition to the Act and the Decision, constitute the regulatory framework applicable to credit intermediaries providing credit intermediation services in relation to housing loans are also available at the above link.
A legal person intending to provide credit intermediation services must submit to the Croatian National Bank, using Form 1 provided in the Annex to the Decision, the application for authorisation accompanied by the documentation required to prove compliance with the prescribed requirements. By way of exception, a credit institution may submit the application for authorisation using Form 5 provided in the Annex of the Decision where a credit intermediary intends to provide services for that credit institution only.
The application for authorisation and the prescribed documentation are to be submitted in writing to the following postal address:
Ured za praćenje zaštite potrošača
Hrvatska narodna banka
Trg hrvatskih velikana 3
10 002 Zagreb
Of the requirements that have to be met, the conclusion of an agreement or a preliminary agreement on the provision of credit intermediation services with the credit institution to which the credit intermediary will be tied, in accordance with Article 31, paragraph (2), item (6) of the Act, and obligatory professional indemnity insurance in accordance with Article 5 of the Decision are particularly worth emphasising.
Furthermore, Article 31, paragraph (2), item (5) of the Act and Article (7) of the Decision lay down further requirements, including the requirements related to the knowledge and competence that a member of the management board of a credit intermediary responsible for credit intermediation services must meet.
In addition to the member of the management board or the board of directors of a credit intermediary responsible for credit intermediation services, Article 3 of the Decision lays down the knowledge and competence requirements for the staff of the credit intermediary. Furthermore, Article 4 of the Decision prescribes the credit institution’s obligation to provide training of the staff of the credit intermediary, at a minimum in the areas laid down in Article 3, paragraph (1) of the Decision.
In addition to the requirements related to qualifications and work experience referred to in Article 7, paragraph (4) of the Decision, the member of the management board or the board of directors of a credit intermediary responsible for credit intermediation services must meet the following requirements:
- be of good repute;
- have adequate knowledge, competence, skills and experience to run the operations of the credit intermediary; and
- meet the criteria for management board members in accordance with the act governing the operation of undertakings.
Furthermore, when processing an application by a legal person, the Croatian National Bank, in accordance with Article 31, paragraph (2), item (6) of the Act, requests from the legal person and the member of the management board or the board of directors of a credit intermediary responsible for credit intermediation services the data on convictions with final force and effect of criminal offences and misdemeanours in the Republic of Croatia from the criminal history records and misdemeanour records and inspects data related to bankruptcy proceedings to verify that the member of the management board or the board of directors of a credit intermediary responsible for credit intermediation services in relation to consumer housing loans meets the requirement of good repute pursuant to Article 31, paragraph (2), item (5), sub-item (a) of the Act.
Further to the above, the Croatian National Bank issues a decision on the application and, if it establishes that the requirements under Article 31 of the Act have been met, issues a decision on the authorisation to provide credit intermediation services. The decision lists all services for which the credit intermediary is authorised and the name of the credit institution to which the credit intermediary is tied and for which it may provide the listed services. Following the issue of such a decision, the Croatian National Bank enters the intermediary in the register of credit intermediaries.
The decision on the authorisation of credit intermediation in relation to consumer housing loans is issued for an indefinite period of time, i.e. it is valid until its revocation, annulment or cessation in accordance with the provisions of Article 35 of the Act.
Where a credit intermediary authorised by the Croatian National Bank intends to provide credit intermediation services in another member state, it must notify the Croatian National Bank of its intention in advance. The notification procedure and content are described in detail in the Decision on notification of the provision of cross-border credit intermediation services (OG 107/2017). After checking the data from the submitted notification, the Croatian National Bank will deliver the passport notification for the credit intermediary to the competent authority for credit intermediaries of the member state in which the intermediary intends to provide services.
Credit intermediaries from other EU member states also deliver passport notifications to the Croatian National Bank via their competent authorities following the same procedure; in addition to other mandatory data, the notification has to contain a list of services they intend to provide in the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The Croatian National Bank publishes a list of all credit intermediaries for which passport notifications have been duly delivered.