The development of the corporate bond market in Croatia

Purpose - The overall purpose of the paper is to examine the factors influencing the speed of development of corporate bond markets and, within that, to investigate the factors that Chief Financial Officers in large Croatian companies consider important in using corporate bonds as a financing method and the barriers they perceive as inhibiting issuing of corporate bonds. Design/methodology/approach - A survey was carried out of a sample of Chief Financial Officers from the largest companies in Croatia. Findings - The paper concludes that a range of macro-level, industry level, market level and firm level factors influence the rate at which corporate bond markets develop and that, in Croatia, progress can be expected to be inexorable, but slow. Practical implications - Although a range of factors contribute to the speed at which a country's corporate bond market develops, it is clear that, in the case of Croatia, there needs to be more education of chief financial officers about the institutional and legal frameworks already in existence. Originality/value - The paper contributes new empirical findings as it presents the first research that has been conducted on the Croatian capital market. The paper adds value to the conceptual understanding of the phenomena of bond market development.