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.
Komárňanská korunová banka, Komárno
The bank was established in 1907 as Komáromi korona takarékpénztár, részvénytársaság (Komárňanská korunová sporiteľňa; Komárno Crown Savings Bank) with share capital of 100,000 Austro-Hungarian Crowns (K). The first manager was Paul Freystadlt, the chief accountant was Miklos Aprili and the treasurer was István Rüdiger. Despite relatively intense competition in Komárno, the credit institution managed to grow by providing small loans secured by paper and taking deposits on savings books. The share capital grew to K 150,000 in 1910 and K 300,000 in 1911. Between 1910 and 1917, the bank paid regular dividends ranging from 5% to 7%. Most members of the management and supervisory boards were elected from the ranks of small craftsmen and merchants.
The bank was adversely impacted by the break-up of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic because its funds were tied up in Budapest. It had invested significant sums in war loans, which it managed to have recognised as claims against the Czechoslovak Republic with help from the banking industry association Jednota peňažných ústavov na Slovensku a Podkarpatskej Rusi (Association of Credit Institutions in Slovakia and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia) in Bratislava. Due to the Savings Bank Act (Act No 302/1920), it was forced to change its name and became Komárňanská korunová banka (Komárno Crown Bank).
The bank struggled to recover from its post-war losses and in 1926 the general meeting voted to approve its liquidation but it was not carried out. Instead, the bank concluded an affiliation agreement with Banka československých légií (Bank of the Czechoslovak Legions, Legiobanka) in Prague, which acquired a majority of the shares and management control. The bank was finally sunk by the Great Depression, which culminated in Slovakia in 1931. Liquidation was now unavoidable and lasted until 1954.
Archival documents on the bank’s activities were delivered to the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá (State Bank of Czechoslovakia) in Marianka in a disordered state in 1956. A part of the fonds was processed and a register was made. In 1978 the fonds was transferred to the archives of Štátna banka československá at 27 Krajná Street in Bratislava and in 2003 it was relocated to the Národná banka Slovenska archives building at 8 Cukrová Street in Bratislava.
The fonds consists of one accounting ledger in Hungarian and supervision reports from the Bank Supervision Union for the years 1926 to 1932 in Czech and Hungarian. Most documents were probably lost during the Second World War. Despite the state of the preserved documents, the fonds can be of use for the study of the history of banking in Slovakia focussing especially on the activities of a Hungarian credit institution, the post-war economic crisis and the expansion of Czech capital in Slovakia. The archival fonds was processed in the archives of Národná banka Slovenska in 2016 and an inventory was made.
Last updated: Monday, November 11, 2024