Sloboden Pecat | 2 July 2025

Croatia loses dispute, must pay 17,5 million euros to Societe Generale

Croatia has lost the multi-year arbitration dispute that the French bank Societe Generale was leading against it before the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, the State Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Croatia announced.

On June 30, 2025, the arbitral tribunal issued a ruling finding that it had jurisdiction to conduct the proceedings and that the claimant’s claims were approved. The tribunal ruled that by adopting amendments to the Law on Consumer Crediting and the Law on Credit Institutions in 2015, Croatia violated the international investment protection agreement concluded with France, reports "Index".

Societe Generale sued Croatia for losses it suffered after the adoption of a law regulating the conversion of loans into Swiss francs. According to the latest version of the lawsuit from March 2025, the bank sought damages of 39,7 million euros with interest.

The International Centre ruled that Croatia must pay the bank EUR 17,55 million with interest at the rate of Euribor + 2,42% effective from May 2017, with monthly calculation until payment. In addition, Croatia must pay the costs of the arbitration proceedings in the amount of EUR 2.823.741,42, also with the associated interest.

The dispute that Croatia lost before the international arbitration court arose from moves taken in 2015 by the then government led by Zoran Milanović to protect citizens who had loans linked to the Swiss franc.