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.
Nemeckoľupčianska banka, Partizánska Ľupča
Nemeckoľupčianska banka (Nemecká Ľupča Bank) came into being in 1873 under the name Nemeckoľupčianska sporiteľňa (Nemecká Ľupča Savings Bank), when a local mutual help in Nemecká Ľupča (now Partizánska Ľupča) decided to transform itself into a joint stock company. Samuel Hlavács became the chairman of the financial institution with Emil Vysnyi as vice-chairman. The registered capital was initially set at 30,000 guldens but the bank later asked the county court to authorise an exception for lower share capital of 20,000 guldens. According to the annual reports, no dividends were paid until 1878. Net profits were not high. In the bank’s first twenty-five years, they amounted to around 56,000 guldens in total. Over the same period, dividends were 94 guldens per share.
In 1889 the bank suffered a loss as a result of entering into bad deals. The then chairman Michal Telsch and vice-chairman Fedor Spitz both resigned as a result. The articles of association were amended in 1905 and 1910. The first change increased the share capital to 80,000 Austro-Hungarian crowns (K) and the second change raised it again to K 160,000. The following period saw favourable development, which was disrupted by the First World War. The bank recovered relatively quickly though.
In 1921, the bank renamed itself Nemeckoľupčianska banka, účastinná spoločnosť (Nemecká Ľupča Bank, joint-stock company), Nemecká Ľupča, to comply with the Savings Bank Act. It was authorised to increase its share capital to 1 million Czechoslovak crowns (Kč) but it only reached Kč 600,000. Its main partner banks were Liptovská úverná banka, Liptovský Mikuláš, the Ružomberok branch of Slovenská banka, the Bratislava branch of Česká priemyselná banka, Prague, and the Poprad branch of Banka československých légií. The last of these offered Nemeckoľupčianska banka a merger in 1927 but was turned down. The bank was careful in its business and preferred loans secured by intabulation (mortgage). It bought real estate at the Korytnica Spa in 1924. Its successful development was disrupted in 1925, when a sum of Kč 831,728 was embezzled by its accountant. The Liptovský Mikuláš branch of Tatra banka and the Ružomberok branch of Slovenská banka were drawn into the scandal because the embezzler also took money from current accounts there. It took until 1930 to clear up the consequences. Profits from the sale of the spa real estate helped to pay for them.
The bank’s commercial activities intensified in the mid-1920s. It provided loans to the First Slovak Film Company Limbora (later Uniofilm) in Košice, as well as to Alexander Pikler, the owner of the Slávia Café in Košice. In 1925 it provided a loan for Kč 300,000 to the Ružomberok paper and cellulose factory. However, Nemecká Ľupča was declining in importance as a town because of the loss of artisans, the local saw mills and the local forest compossessorate (corporation), and it was difficult for the bank to have much impact outside its local region in the face of larger and stronger competitors. At a general meeting on 30 October 1930, the shareholders approved a merger with Slovenská ľudová banka, Bratislava. Nemeckoľupčianska banka became a branch of this bank on 16 May 1931.
The bank’s archival documents were originally kept in the corporate archive of Štátna banka československá in Ružomberok and Bratislava. In 1992 the complete fonds was deposited in the Archives of Národná banka Slovenska at 27 Krajná Street in Bratislava and it was moved to the building at 8 Cukrová Street in Bratislava in 2003. An inventory of the fonds was made in 1968 and revised in 2016. It consists mainly of minutes from meetings of the board of directors, final accounts and the account books.
Last updated: Friday, December 29, 2023