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.
Ľudová banka, Nové Mesto nad Váhom
Ľudová banka (People’s Bank), Nové Mesto and Váhom, was established in 1896 at the initiative of one of the trailblazers of Slovak banking, Július Markovič, with share capital amounting to 60,000 Austro-Hungarian crowns (K). It began operating in 1897. It gradually became the leading Slovak financial institution in western Slovakia. In 1909 the share capital was increased to K 500,000 and in 1911 it was raised again to K 1 million. Its main business was taking deposits and granting cheap credit to Slovak clients. Július Markovič managed the bank until his death in 1913 and was succeeded by his son Ivan Markovič. The bank gradually took over two other banks: Vzájomná pomocnica (Mutual Help) in Vrbové, and Úverná banka (Credit Bank) in Piešťany, subsequently establishing branches in both towns. The bank employed several future leaders of Slovak banking including Ján Cablk, Elo Šándor, Rudolf Kubiš and Tomáš Tvarožek amongst others. The bank was dissolved in 1920 when it merged with Hospodárska banka in Trnava.
The main surviving documents from the bank’s headquarters in Nové Mesto nad Váhom are accounting ledgers and annual reports from 1909 to 1915. The Archives of Národná banka Slovenska also has a small part of the documents from the branch in Piešťany, which was established in 1912. These include minutes for the years 1911 – 1920, accounting ledgers and annual reports for the period 1908 – 1915. The archival fonds of the headquarters in Nové Mesto nad Váhom and the official ledgers of the branch in Piešťany were transferred, probably in 1956, to the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá in Marianka, where they were put in order. Following the delimitation of archival documents after Štátna banka československá was dissolved, the accounting ledgers were transferred from the branch of Všeobecná úverová banka in Trenčín. Although only a sparse fonds has survived from one of the most important pre-1918 Slovak financial institutions, the documents that we have, especially those from the Piešťany branch, are useful for research on the history of banking in Slovakia. The archival fonds of Ľudová banka, Nové Mesto nad Váhom, was processed in 2007 and the inventory was revised in 2016.
Last updated: Friday, January 27, 2023