Viliam Pauliny

(*20 December 1887 in Slovenské Pravno – †1945 at unknown place)

Having completed his studies in Prague (1896 – 1898) he took a job in Tatra banka in Martin and four years later he became accountant in Zvolenská ľudová banka. From 1909 to 1914 he was the editor of the first Slovak professional magazine dealing with the issues of banking and economy – Slovenský peňažník (The Slovak Financier).

As a bank official he was a recognised authority. In the years 1912 – 1913 he was the major initiator of the restructuring process aimed at rescuing Tatra banka after it got into difficulties caused by the improvident trading with the American company of Peter Víťazoslav Rovnianek (he took over for half a year as director of Tatra banka after Ivan Daxner). In the 1920s he assisted with the restructuring of Ľudová banka in Ružomberok as a member of its administration. In 1920 he became director of Zvolenská ľudová banka’s successor bank, Národná banka in Banská Bystrica, which was renamed to Stredoslovenská banka in 1940. He was a member of other banks’ management and supervisory boards and ranked among the foremost organisers of economic life in Slovakia in the interwar period.

From 5 September 1944 to the dissolution of rebel bodies at the end of October 1944 he was the first commissioner of finance of the Slovak National Council. After the suppression of the Slovak National Uprising, he was arrested and taken to Germany where he died in unknown circumstances.