NLB Skladi cements market lead as Gen Z turns to long-term saving

NLB Skladi, the asset management arm of Slovenia’s largest banking group, has reinforced its dominant position in the domestic investment market. The company announced on 22 January that its umbrella fund reached €3.0 billion in assets under management by the end of 2025, serving nearly 103,000 investors. When combined with discretionary portfolio management, alternative investment funds, and regional subsidiaries in North Macedonia and Serbia, total assets under the NLB Skladi umbrella now exceed €3.7 billion.

“2025 was a record year for NLB Skladi,” said Luka Podlogar, president of the management board. “With net sales of €245.5 million and a nearly 46 per cent share of net sales in the Slovenian market, we have further strengthened our position as the largest asset management company in Slovenia.”

The firm is bullish on 2026. “At NLB Skladi, we are maintaining an above-average exposure to equities compared to bonds this year, and we prefer both asset classes to cash,” said Rok Potočnik, a senior portfolio manager at the company. He pointed to tailwinds including rapid advances in artificial intelligence, strong US productivity growth, expectations of more expansionary fiscal policy, and low levels of corporate and household debt. Volatility may rise, Potočnik added, but that presents opportunities for investors willing to deploy capital during market dips.

A generation investing earlier

NLB Skladi’s record year arrives against a backdrop of shifting demographics in retail investing worldwide. The World Economic Forum’s Global Retail Investor Outlook, a survey of investors across 13 economies published last year, found that 30 per cent of Gen Z –  broadly, those born between the late 1990s and early 2010s – began investing in early adulthood. That compares with just 9 per cent of Gen X and 6 per cent of baby boomers who started at the same life stage.

The gap widens when it comes to financial education. By the time they enter the workforce, 86 per cent of Gen Z have already learned about personal investing, the survey found, versus 47 per cent of boomers. Younger generations are also more open to technology-assisted advice: 41 per cent of Gen Z and millennials said they would allow an AI assistant to manage their investments, compared with 14 per cent of baby boomers.

A separate study from the Oliver Wyman Forum, published in January 2026 and based on data from 300,000 investors tracked since 2020, found that economic anxiety is accelerating the trend. Many young people, uncertain about job security in an era of artificial intelligence and automation, are turning to markets as a hedge. Social media plays an outsized role in this shift, with more than half of Gen Z and 44 per cent of millennial investors citing it as the primary reason they began investing.

NLB Skladi appears to recognise the opportunity. A significant portion of its 2025 activity was devoted to a financial literacy campaign aimed at young Slovenians, framing saving not as privation but as a means to realise aspirations.

“Although we talk about money, we are really talking about feelings – security, freedom, and meaning,” said Blaž Bračič, a member of the NLB Skladi management board. He added that the firm’s role was to help young people see saving as an instrument for achieving their goals rather than a form of self-denial.

The message aligns with what researchers are finding. The WEF survey noted that nearly 20 per cent of Gen Z non-investors cited distrust of financial institutions as their reason for staying out of markets. Among those who do invest, a majority said they would invest more if they had greater trust in their platforms and better access to education. For traditional asset managers competing against slick fintech apps and social media influencers, credibility and clear communication may matter as much as returns.

In it for the long haul

NLB Skladi is also positioning itself around Slovenia’s new individual investment accounts, which come into effect later this year. “Individual investment accounts represent a structured and tax-efficient framework for long-term goals, and a good first step toward a personal financial plan,” Bračič said. “They are also a wake-up call for everyone who is not yet saving for the future.”

For now, the firm’s record year suggests it is well placed to benefit from whatever growth materialises, both at home and across the region. NLB Skladi offers 20 sub-funds under its umbrella structure, spanning global equities, emerging markets, bonds, and sector-specific strategies. Its distribution network, tied to NLB’s extensive branch presence, gives it reach that smaller competitors struggle to match.

And if the generational data holds, the pipeline of new investors may only grow. A cohort that starts saving in its early twenties, with decades of compounding ahead, represents a long-term opportunity. Provided the industry can earn their trust.