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Tornaľská sporiteľňa, Tornaľa
Tornaľská sporiteľňa, účastinná spoločnosť (Tornaljai takarékpénztár, r. t., in Hungarian; Tornaľa Savings Bank, joint-stock company) had its founding meeting on 30 June 1872. The general meeting elected Zoltán Tornaljay as chairman of the board of directors, Emil Liszauer as managing director, Andrej Borzi as accountant, Ladislav Hevessy as treasurer, and the lawyer Jozef Kosuth as legal representative and company secretary. At first all performed their function without remuneration but after a while annual salaries were instituted amounting to 100 guldens for the chairman, managing director and legal representative and 400 guldens for the treasurer and the accountant. The bank agreed to rent two rooms in the house of Andrej Borzi as its offices, for which it would pay 120 guldens per year. Every shareholder would contribute 3 guldens per share towards the furnishing of the offices. The new bank was to be advertised in the official journal, Budapesti Közlöny, and the local weekly Gömöri lapok (Gemerské listy; Gemer Pages). Its official first day of business would be 1 September 1872.
Before that, the general meeting met on 22 July 1872 and approved the bank’s articles of association. It also elected a committee consisting of Karol Radvánszky, Ladislav Hamos, Žigmund Moskovitz, Miksa Moesz, Tomáš Sziklay, Anton Szentmiklossy, Jozef Tomcsányi, Jozef Szobonya, Andrej Péki, Arpád Tornaljai, Arpád Szentiványi, Jakub Frisich, Bernát Klein, Artur Glóz, Daniel Dedinszky, Ľudovít Lukács, Jozef Klein, Samuel Mandl and Jozef Hevessy.
The committee held its first meeting on 24 November 1872, where it decided that gold and silver coins would be accepted not at their nominal value but their value after deduction of a premium (agio). Bills of exchange were to be discounted at 10%, the interest on loans was to be 12% and on orphan deposits 7%. Andrej Borzi stepped down from the role of accountant and was replaced by Samuel Schmal. The treasurer’s salary was increased to 600 guldens per year. A supervisory committee was elected. The bank issued 800 shares for 100 guldens each giving it share capital of 80,000 guldens.
The subscriptions were paid very slowly so the bank had to apply for a rediscount loan from Pesti I. hazai takarékpénztár (First National Savings Bank of Pest). At the second general meeting on 20 April 1873, the number of members of the committee was reduced to five plus the chairman. The interest on loans was reduced to 10% though pawnbroking loans remained at 12%. The founders of Tornaľská sporiteľňa, local landowners and merchants, remained its majority shareholders. However, by 1910, when it received its first competition with the foundation of Tornaľská banka (Tornaľa Bank), Tornaľská sporiteľňa had a balance sheet total of 3 million Austro-Hungarian crowns (K), which grew to K 11 million in 1920, and had owned its own building since 1900. Its partners included Pesti I. hazai takarékpénztár and the Savings Bank in Miskolc. After the establishment of Czechoslovakia, it developed ties with Bratislavská prvá sporivá banka (First Bratislava Savings Bank).
During the First World War, it subscribed war loans for K 581,000 for its own account and also invested in them 40% of K 9.5 million held in deposits. The bank had three branches, in Ratková, Kameňany and Rimavská Seč. Most of the shareholders were members of the board of directors or the supervisory board and they passed on their holdings to their heirs, who also succeeded to their fathers’ functions. The Savings Bank Act of 1920 forced the bank to change its name and it became Tornaľský úverný ústav (Tornaľa Credit Institute).
In 1938 Tornaľa and the surrounding area were part of the territory ceded to Hungary as a result of the Vienna Arbitration, which was welcomed by the bank management and enabled it to resume its former name as Tornaľská sporiteľňa. The articles of association were amended in line with the Hungarian trade law. The bank terminated its relations with Bratislavská prvá sporivá banka and partnered with Komárňanská prvá sporiteľňa (First Komárno Savings Bank) to the extent that it effectively became affiliated with it. The 7:1 rate, applied when converting the Czechoslovak crown to the Hungarian pengő, caused the bank to incur a significant loss. The bank’s balance sheet total increased during the Second World War but it did not make large profits. In 1942 Tornaľská sporiteľňa entered an affiliation relationship with the Hornouhorská úverná banka (Upper Hungarian Credit Bank) in Košice, which paid off its debts to Komárňanská prvá sporiteľňa. When Hornouhorská úverná banka merged with Košická sporiteľňa (Košice Savings Bank), Tornaľská sporiteľňa took over the branch of this merged institution in Tornaľa.
During the war, the branch had the same management as before the war. The chairman of the board of directors was the landowner Zoltán Tornaljay and the other members were the landowner Pavol Fazekas, lawyer Štefan Gamauf, Lutheran pastor Arpád Kövér, and merchant Fabián Klein. The chairman of the supervisory board was Arpád Soldos and the other members were the mayor Albert Bass, landowner Pavol Jansen and physician Gejza Goldblatt. None of the management remained in Tornaľa after the war.
The bank was placed under temporary administration by decision of the Slovak National Council of 25 May 1945. This was replaced by national administration from 19 February 1946. The Executive Authority for Finance appointed as liquidators Július Janáč and Pavol Jakobej, bank officials from the Tornaľa branch of Tatra banka. The remainder of the liquidation estate was handed over to the Obvodná likvidačná komisia (District Liquidation Office) in Rimavská Sobota at the end of 1947, and after its dissolution, it was returned to Tatra banka. The District Committee of the Communist Party in Tornaľa took over the bank’s building and sent documents weighing 5.2 tonnes for pulping. The official end of the story of Tornaľská sporiteľňa was its merger by universal succession with Slovenská všeobecná úverná banka (Slovak General Credit Bank), Bratislava, in 1950 considered effective from 1 January 1949.
Information on the savings bank was obtained from the Compass financial yearbooks, descriptions of financial institutions in the fonds of Štátna banka československá (State Bank of Czechoslovakia) and the recollections of former employees of Tornaľská sporiteľňa. The bank’s preserved documents were deposited in the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá in Ružomberok. After 1992 the fonds was transferred to the Archives of Národná banka Slovenska at 27 Krajná Street in Bratislava and it was moved to the NBS archives building at 8 Cukrová Street in Bratislava in 2003. A temporary inventory of the fonds was made in the corporate archives of Štátna banka československá in Ružomberok in 1968 and this was revised in the Archives of Národná banka Slovenska in 2016. It consists mainly of minutes from meetings of the board of directors, final accounts and ledgers.
Last updated: Tuesday, December 30, 2025