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 to the public from December 16, 2025 to January 16, 2026.
Slovenská hospodárska banka, Budapest (Lučenec, Košice and Nové Zámky branches)
Slovenská hospodárska banka, účastinná spoločnosť (Szlovák gazdasági bank, r. t.; Slovak Economic Bank, joint-stock company) was established at Budapest in 1941 with share capital of 4 million pengő following complex negotiations between Slovakia and Hungary on the settlement of the property and financial claims of Slovak credit institutions that remained in territory taken over by Hungary after the Vienna Arbitration. It involved 51 branches of Slovak banks, 4 branches of Mestská sporiteľňa (Municipal Savings Bank) in Bratislava and around 240 local credit unions. The outcome of lengthy negotiations on the national level was the transfer of a substantial portion of the claims to Slovakia. It was further agreed that the Hungarian-Czech Industrial Bank would be reorganised, with a capital injection from Slovenská banka (Slovak Bank), as Slovenská hospodárska banka in Budapest with branches in Nové Zámky, Lučenec, and Košice. In consideration, the Slovak party committed to allowing Bratislavská prvá sporivá banka (Bratislava First Savings Bank) in Bratislava and Spišská úverná banka (Spiš Credit Bank) in Levoča to continue operating as banks of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia even though both were supposed to be dissolved as part of the consolidation plan for the Slovak financial sector. Another outcome of the negotiations was the continued operation of the Bratislava branch of the Czech Industrial Bank, for which it would sell its stake in the Hungarian-Czech Industrial Bank to Slovenská banka.
The board of directors of Slovenská hospodárska banka comprised representatives of Slovenská banka in Bratislava – Milan Maxoň, Zdenko Houdek, Jozef Kelemen, Július Sokol; representatives of Slovaks in Hungary – Emanuel Böhm and Gustáv Voda; and Hungarian dignitaries, such as Count Béla Szápary. The bank focused mainly on consolidating the business of the former branches of Slovenská banka in southern Slovakia and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia and clearing operations between Hungary and Slovakia.
After 1945, the business of Slovenská hospodárska banka was scaled down and at an extraordinary general meeting on 30 December 1947, it changed its name to Maďarsko-československá banka, Budapest (Hungarian Csehszlovák Bank). The bank continued operating until 1951, when it was liquidated.
After the detached territories in southern Slovakia were returned to Czechoslovakia, the Executive Authority for Finance imposed a moratorium on the branches of Slovenská hospodárska banka in Košice, Lučenec and Nové Zámky and ordered their liquidation. Bedrich Podivinský, the director of Slovenská banka in Bratislava, was appointed liquidator. Slovenská banka took over the staff of these branches and a portion of their assets. The liquidators were recalled in 1949 and the liquidation of the branches was taken over by Slovenská Tatra banka in Bratislava. On 8 November 1951, the branches of Slovenská hospodárska banka in Košice, Lučenec and Nové Zámky concluded an agreement with the Regional Institute for Slovakia of Štátna banka československá (State Bank of Czechoslovakia) for the full takeover of the branches’ assets. The branches were deleted from the company register in 1952.
In 1956, the archival documents relating to the Lučenec branch were deposited in the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá (State Bank of Czechoslovakia) in Bratislava, where some processing was carried out but no surviving register or inventory was made. A part of the documents on the activity of the Lučenec branch were deposited in the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá in Ružomberok, where they were processed in 1968 and a register was made. These documents were moved to the Archives of Národná banka Slovenska at 27 Krajná Street in Bratislava in 1993.
Archival documents relating to the activities of Nové Zámky branch were deposited in the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá in Nitra. In 1962, the fonds was relocated to the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá in Marianka, where its inventory was made.
In 2003, all the documents of Slovenská hospodárska banka in Budapest were transferred to the Archives of Národná banka Slovenska at 8 Cukrová Street in Bratislava, where they were gradually processed. The branches’ documentation includes material in Slovak and in Hungarian. There are minutes of the board of directors, accounting ledgers, loan documentation and documentation on the establishment and winding up of the bank. Most of the records of Slovenská hospodárska banka in Budapest were lost during the Second World War. Despite this, the archival fonds makes up a relatively well-preserved whole that can be used in studying the history of banking during the Second World War, with an emphasis on Slovak-Hungarian economic relations. In 2016, the archival fonds of the Košice, Lučenec and Nové Zámky branches of Slovenská hospodárska banka in Budapest were processed and a full inventory was made.
Last updated: Tuesday, December 9, 2025