Interrelation between banking risks and macroeconomic trends are one of the fundamental preconditions for the stability of a country's financial system. This paper analyses the relationship between the macroeconomic trends and the financial stability of banks in the period before, during and after the 2008 financial crisis in Croatia. Movement of gross domestic product, inflation, interest rates, unemployment rate, share of non-performing loans in total loans in the banking system, movement of bank loans, i.e. the connection between commercial banks and economic trends of the country was observed in the period from 2000 to 2019. The importance of the banking system and the way in which the banking system functions are emphasized, with special emphasis on banking risks. The statistical data used in the survey were taken from the databases of the Croatian National Bank, the Central Bureau of Statistics, the European Central Bank, the European Commission, the SAS® OpRisk Global Database, the KPMG database for 2018, the World Bank database and the database Global Finance Practice (2017). The conducted correlation analysis based on the collected data confirms the interdependence of macroeconomic variables (gross domestic product, inflation, unemployment rate) and banking variables (interest rates with and without currency clause, bank loans and the share of non-performing loans). Based on the conducted analyses, recommendations are given for actions to strengthen the stability of the banking system in the form of reducing banks' exposure to structural risks caused by internal or external factors. The results of this research can provide guidance to financial institutions and policy makers in developing instruments that improve the performance of financial institutions and the stability of the financial system.