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.
Novohradská ľudová banka, Lučenec
Novohradská ľudová banka (Novohrad People’s Bank) in Lučenec was established under the Hungarian name Nógrádmegyei népbank in 1872 with a share capital of 48,000 guldens, which was gradually increased to 60,000 guldens. After Austria-Hungary changed over to a gold-backed currency, the capital was valued at 120,000 Austro-Hungarian crowns (K). In 1889 the share capital was raised to K 240,000. During this period, the bank paid relatively high dividends – at an average rate of 16.7%. As the bank achieved good results, it increased its share capital to K 500,000 in 1905, to K 1 million in 1912 and to K 2 million in 1918. The bank’s president was Ervin Stephani and the director was János Bulyi. The bank gradually opened branches in Fiľakovo, Hajnáčka, Modrý Kameň, Rimavská Sobota and Rimavská Seč. During the First World War, like many other Hungarian credit institutions, it invested heavily in war loans and eventually accumulated claims of K 1.7 million.
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 managed to have the funds that had been invested in war loans 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. Even so, it was unable to overcome its post-war losses and it therefore had to request a moratorium and settle with creditors at 25%. To cover balance-sheet losses, it reduced its share capital to 500,000 Czechoslovak crowns in 1928. In 1928 it was taken over by Dunajská banka (Danube Bank) in Bratislava and became its branch.
Only a small part of the bank’s documents have been preserved and they are mostly in Hungarian. They cover the period from 1905 to 1948. Most of them are administrative and accounting books from the later period of the bank’s existence. The fonds also includes incomplete minutes of general meetings, annual reports and records from the takeover by Dunajská banka. The fonds may be of use in studies of the history of banking in Slovakia before 1938, focussing on the activities of Hungarian credit institutions and/or the consolidation process in the banking sector between the wars.
The bank’s archival documents were initially kept in the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá (State Bank of Czechoslovakia) in Ružomberok, where they were put in order in 1968 and an inventory was made. In 1993, the fonds was transferred to the archive of Národná banka Slovenska in Bratislava, where the inventory was revised and expanded in 2016.
Last updated: Monday, November 18, 2024