The NBS Archives are open to the public at the following times:
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
9 a.m. to 12 noon /
12:45 p.m. to 3 p.m.
In July, August and September the Archives are closed to the public.
The Archives will be closed on 18 and 25 February 2025.
Eskontná a hospodárska banka, Budapest (Košice branch)
Uhorská eskontná a zmenárenská banka, účastinná banka, (Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank, joint-stock company; in Hungarian, Magyar leszámítoló és pénzváltóbank) was established in Budapest in 1869. It was part of the Rothschild’s banking group. It established its first branches in cities as far afield as Rijeka, Cluj-Napoca, Belgrade and Dabrowa, but also in Bratislava and Košice.
It began with share capital of 525,000 florins, which was increased year after year. By 1917, it had reached 90 million Austro-Hungarian crowns (K). Between 1913 and 1916 it recorded profits of K 5 million. Loans amounted to K 108 million.
The company took deposits, discounted and rediscounted papers, provided mortgage loans and current account loans, traded securities and real estate, established commercial and industrial enterprises, issued guarantee credit and was authorised to provide universal banking services. The bank had many affiliated enterprises and credit institutions.
On 30 December 1921, the general meeting of Hospodárska banka, Bratislava, účastinná spoločnosť (Farm Bank, joint-stock company) in Bratislava agreed to merge with the branches of the Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank in Bratislava and Košice to create Eskontná a hospodárska banka (ESHB) (Discounting and Farm Bank), entered in the companies register with Hungarian and German names: Leszámítoló és közgazdasági bank, r. t., and Eskompte und volkswirtschaftliche Bank, A. G. At the same time, control over the bank changed and the majority owner of the new bank became the local bank Tatra banka. However, the Rothschild group and Hungarian capital retained significant holdings.
The share capital was raised to 10 million Czechoslovak crowns (Kč); Vladimír Jesenský, the general director of Tatra banka, was elected chairman of the board with his deputies being Jozef Bün, the director of the Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank, and Emil Popper, a long-serving officer of Hospodárska banka. Many leading figures in the Slovak financial sector also sat on the board, including Ľudovít Vanovič, Fedor Jesenský and Cyril Kresák. The bank’s general director was another long-serving officer from Hospodárska banka, Albert Gestetner. The bank had its headquarters on what is now Hlavné námestie (Main Square) in Bratislava and it initially had one branch in Košice.
On 30 July 1940, the general meeting complied with an order of the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic dated 15 May 1940 to endorse a merger with Tatra banka. Shares in the bank were exchanged for Tatra banka shares at a ratio of 3 to 1. The bank’s premises became a branch of Tatra banka. As Košice had been occupied by the Hungarian army following the 1938 Vienna Arbitration, the branch there continued to operate until 1942. It became once again a branch of the Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank (Magyar leszámítoló és pénzváltó, r. t.) with its headquarters in Budapest.
In 1945, after the occupied territories were returned to Slovakia, the branch was liquidated by Oblastná likvidačná kancelária (Local Liquidation Office) in Košice. In 1949 Slovenská Tatra banka, Bratislava (Slovak Tatra banka) took over the liquidation. In 1950 the newly established Štátna banka československá (State Bank of Czechoslovakia) started to take over all assets and liabilities of this institution.
Preserved archival material on the bank was kept in the archives of Štátna banka československá in Bratislava until 1965, when it was transferred to the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá at 2 Šrobárova Street in Košice by order of the Slovak Archives Administration. The documents were transferred to the Národná banka Slovenska archives building at 27 Krajná Street in Bratislava after 1990. They were relocated again to the building at 8 Cukrová Street in Bratislava in 2003.
An initial inventory of the fonds was made at the archives of Štátna banka československá in 1967 and this was revised and expanded in the archives of Národná banka Slovenska in 2016. The main surviving documentation consists of lists of securities and deposits, several credit files and 15 accounting ledgers.
Last updated: Friday, November 8, 2024