The Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency’s Board President Ante Žigman used speaking engagements at two European conferences to present Croatia’s experience with euro adoption and to outline priorities for integrating Central and South-Eastern European capital markets. At the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission’s FSC 2025 conference in Sofia on 14 November 2025, he said Croatia’s euro changeover reduced currency risk for non-banking financial institutions and supported portfolio diversification, with increased market liquidity, no significant effect on share valuations and a possible short-term decline in sovereign bond yields, alongside an increase in initial public offerings. He also referenced the EU’s Savings and Investments Union Strategy adopted in March 2025 and argued for timely local reforms, deeper integration of retail investors, stronger regional cooperation and a focus on emerging digital asset classes. At the European Central Securities Depositories Association annual conference in Brussels on 18 November 2025, Žigman discussed a regional integration initiative launched by a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding, and highlighted three pillars: tighter links between trading and post-trade infrastructure, harmonised regulatory and supervisory standards, and digitisation and product innovation. He pointed to work starting in the trading area, including harmonising market infrastructure, developing a common regional index and enabling cross-listing, and framed success as enabling mid-sized firms to raise capital anywhere in the region with “on-day settlements” and in any local currency.

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