A good, efficient and sustainable higher education system is considered a precondition of economic growth and is a significant factor of a country's economic policy. The selected models of higher ...education funding, and their implementation forms, determine, to a great extent, the success of the entire higher education system. The objective of the paper is to examine the existing models and ways of higher education funding, especially students' funding in the selected European countries, and their mutual compatibility and comparability, and to compare them with the existing models of higher education funding in Croatia. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
Consumer protection within a broader area of social responsibility and ethics in banking has recently been attracting increased interest of researchers and professionals. The global financial crisis, ...which started in 2007, has put consumer protection under great scrutiny by initiating changes in behavioural patterns both of banks and consumers. Besides being an ethical question, consumer protection is also an important social and political question, usually appearing together with excessive problems, significant for financial stability as well. The aim of this paper is to investigate problems in bank consumer protection in Croatia both from regulatory and from practical aspect, and planned solutions for detected problems, as well as to analyse examples found in developed countries. Qualitative methodology is applied in the research, based on in-depth interviews with subject matter experts. By studying practical solutions for consumer protection on a global level, particularly focusing on the USA and Western European countries, the paper proposes the best practice of consumer protection applicable in Croatia.
NON - PROFIT MUTUAL SAVINGS INSTITUTIONS Leko, Vlado; Stojanovic, Alen
An Enterprise Odyssey. International Conference Proceedings,
06/2004
Conference Proceeding
Non - profit mutual savings depository institutions have been important participants of financial systems in many countries for more than two centuries. Different from banks and other stock - owned ...financial institutions, mutual savings depository institutions are owned and controlled by people who use their services - by members. They serve people that share something in common, such as the same living place, occupation etc. They are usually defined as financial institutions whose basic function is the promotion of thrift among its members by accumulation of savings and the creation of sources of credit for mutual benefit of members at a fair and reasonable rate of interest. Because of that, besides economic, their social importance is specially stressed. They exist in almost every country, but because of different regulation and other specific characteristics they also operate under different names: credit unions, savings and loan associations, cooperative banks, cooperative societies, cooperative credit institutions etc. The paper analyses mutual savings institutions from theoretical and practical point of view. It points to the basic characteristics of their operation, organization and regulation. Their economic and social meaning in different financial systems is particularly emphasized. By comparing Croatia's system with other countries the research tried to assess the achieved development level of savings and loan associations in Croatia, and to analyze the possibilities and the need for their further development and institutional support. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
U posljednjih tridesetak godina poslovanje banaka značajno se izmijenilo. Suština tih promjena je u preoblikovanju tradicionalnih banaka od depozitno kreditnih institucija, u institucije „potpune ...financijske usluge“ koje pružaju i mnoge nebankovne financijske usluge. Unatoč tome, u većini zemalja najvažnija imovina banaka još uvijek su potraživanja po odobrenim kreditima, a kreditna politika je najvažnija odrednica njihovog poslovanja. Važne promjene zamjećuju se i u samoj kreditnoj politici banaka. Dok su banke u prošlosti u svojim kreditnim plasmanima najčešće zanemarivale stanovništvo u korist poduzeća, posljednjih godina, uslijed pojačane konkurencije na tržištu, slabosti u gospodarstvu, manjih rizika i većih prinosa na odobrene kredite stanovništvu, evidentan je suprotan trend.
U radu se analiziraju značenje i struktura kreditne aktive banaka u EU, SAD-u i Japanu, te uspoređuje sa Hrvatskom. Rezultati istraživanja potvrđuju dominantno značenje kreditne aktive u bilancama banaka u svim promatranim zemljama, sličnosti u sektorskoj strukturi kredita, ali i značajne razlike u namjenskoj strukturi kredita odobrenih stanovništvu.
