Vladimír Makovický

(*26 April 1862 in Ružomberok – †15 February 1944 in Smokovec)

He was a son of Peter Makovický, who on 3 June 1879 together with his brother Daniel Makovický, laid the foundations of one of the first Slovak banks – Ružomberský úverkový účastinársky spolok (Ružomberok Joint Stock Credit Company).
He became the bank's director in 1903 succeeding his father Peter, at the time when the bank was looking back on a quarter century of activities, and in 1904 it changed its name to Úverná banka (Credit Bank). He had experience of business activities in Vienna, Budapest, Debrecen and Ružomberok where he showed his entrepreneur's talent in developing the paper industry and founding a sheep cheese processing plant. He was a member of the bank's administration board from 1887 and also participated in the establishment of Tatra banka (1886).

Makovický's banking activities were characterised by close cooperation with Czech financial institutions, most notably Živnostenská banka in Prague. After the death of Július Markovič, Makovický became the leading figure in Slovak banking and in 1915 he was elected chairman of Zväz slovenských peňažných ústavov (Association of Slovak Financial Institutions). He was also active in the Slovak national movement and signed the Martin Declaration of the Slovak Nation in 1918.

After the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic, he ranked among the prominent organisers of economic life and banking in Slovakia. In 1919 Úverná banka was renamed Slovenská banka and moved from Ružomberok to Bratislava. His ambition was to make Slovenská banka a strong institution, based on the model of Živnostenská banka, so that it could be a key player in the economic development of Slovakia. At that time, the industrial group of Slovenská banka owned shares in 47 industrial and commercial enterprises. He remained the head of Slovenská banka and of its most important enterprises – Slovenská papiereň (paper mill) in Ružomberok, Slovenská poisťovňa Bratislava (insurance company) – until his death.