6.2 Commercial banks

According to the law, a bank is defined as a legal entity with its registered office in SR, founded as a joint stock company, which :

accepts deposits and

provides loans

and which holds a banking license to perform these activities. One of the basic conditions to obtain the banking license is a monetary deposit into the bank’s registered capital in the amount of at least SKK 500,000,000 and a minimal monetary deposit into the registered capital of the bank performing mortgage transactions of SKK 1,000,000,000.

Another legal form of banking enterprising as the form of a joint stock company is excluded in SR. The bank can issue only registered shares in the book entry form; a change of their form is prohibited. A foreign bank is a legal entity based outside SR which has a license to perform bank activities granted in its home country. A branch office of the foreign bank is an organizational unit of the foreign bank located in SR.

Besides accepting deposits and providing loans, the bank can also carry out the following activities if these are specified in its license :

payments and clearing ,

providing investment services for clients and investments in securities for the bank's own account ,

trading for the bank's own account ;

a) in financial instruments of the money market in Slovak crowns and foreign currencies, including exchange services ,
b) in financial instrument of the capital market in Slovak crowns and foreign currencies ,
c) in precious metal coins, commemorative banknotes and coins, sheets of banknotes and sets of circulation coinage ,

management of receivables for the client's account, including advisory services ,

financial leasing ,

provision of guarantees, opening and endorsing of letters of credit ,

issuing and administration of payment instruments ,

business advisory services ,

issuing of securities ,

financial brokerage ,

mortgage transactions ,

renting of safe deposit boxes ,

provisions of banking information ,

mortgage transactions ,

performing of the function of a depository pursuant to separate regulations ,

processing of banknotes, coins, commemorative banknotes and coins

The Deposit Protection Act refers to bank deposits. The purpose of the Act is to prescribe measures for the protection of the deposits held in accounts and in the branch offices of foreign banks and to provide for compensation for those deposits in case of inaccessibility. A Deposit Protection Fund provides a compensation for an inaccessible deposit in the amount of 90 % of the inaccessible deposit, in a maximal total amount of 20,000 EUR in Slovak crowns to a single depositor.

The deposits of legal entities are not protected by the Deposit Protection Act and the compensation is not provided for these deposits from the Deposit Protection Fund.

Currently (by January 1, 2006), a number of banks and branches of foreign banks operate in SR. Those are the following :

CALYON BANK Slovakia, a. s.

Citibank Slovakia, a. s.

Československá obchodní banka, a. s.

ČSOB Stavebná sporiteľňa, a. s.

Dexia banka Slovensko, a. s.

HVB Bank Slovakia, a. s.

Istrobanka, a. s.

Komerční banka Bratislava, a. s.

Ľudová banka, a. s.

OTP Banka Slovensko, a. s.

Poštová banka, a. s.

Prvá stavebná sporiteľňa, a. s.

Slovenská sporiteľňa, a. s.

Slovenská záručná a rozvojová banka, a. s.

Tatra banka, a. s.

UniBanka, a. s.

Všeobecná úverová banka, a. s.

Wüstenrot stavebná sporiteľňa, a. s.

A special place among the banks has Slovenská záručná a rozvojová banka, a. s., (SZRB) which is a specialized bank institution founded by the Ministry of Finance of SR, a central organ of the state administration.

One more specialized bank exists (except the banks mentioned above) – Eximbanka. The only owner of Eximbanka of SR, which started to realize its activities in 1997, is the country since the bank’s establishment. The main target of the institution is to support the maximal volume of export of sophisticated production mainly into the OECD countries, especially EU, as well as into the developing countries, with the assurance of resources return by means of minimizing the risks which originate from insurance, credit, warranty and financial operations. Tens of other significant foreign banks have their representation in SR. To the biggest ones belong: ING Bank, ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank and others.

Approximately 21,000 people work in the bank sector, including 1,200 in the central bank. The share of the foreign capital in the subscribed capital of the banks in SR achieves almost 90 %.