The following list of banks in Slovakia is to be understood within the framework of the European single market and European banking union, which means that Slovakia's banking system is more open to cross-border banking operations than peers outside of the EU.
Policy framework
European banking supervision distinguishes between significant institutions (SIs) and less significant institutions (LSIs), with SI/LSI designations updated regularly by the European Central Bank (ECB). Significant institutions are directly supervised by the ECB using joint supervisory teams that involve the national competent authorities (NCAs) of individual participating countries. Less significant institutions are supervised by the relevant NCA on a day-to-day basis, under the supervisory oversight of the ECB.[1] In Slovakia's case, the NCA is the National Bank of Slovakia.[2]
Significant institutions
As of 2025-9-1, the list of supervised institutions maintained by the ECB included no Slovak banking groups as SIs.[3] Instead, banking groups based in other euro-area countries have significant operations in the country. A study published in 2024 assessed that the largest banking group by assets in Slovakia (as opposed to total consolidated assets) at end-2023 were:[4]
Other euro-area banks that operate in Slovakia include:[3]
Crédit Mutuel (via Cofidis) and ING are also present via branches.
- Erste Group (€26 billion), via
Less significant institutions
As of 2025-9-1, the ECB's list of supervised institutions included nine Slovak LSIs.[3]
High-impact LSIs
Of these, the following two were designated by the ECB as "high-impact" on the basis of several criteria including size:
- Prima Banka Slovensko, majority-owned by Penta Investments
- Prvá Stavebná Sporiteľňa
Other Slovak LSIs
The remaining three domestic LSIs were:
- Privatbanka, known as Banka Slovakia until 2005,[6]
Other institutions
The National Bank of Slovakia and EXIMBANKA SR are public-sector credit institutions that do not hold a banking license under EU law.
Defunct banks
A few former Slovak banks, defined as having been headquartered in the present-day territory of Slolvakia, are documented on Wikipedia. They are listed below in chronological order of establishment.
Additional banks that left the Slovak market included, by chronological order of exit:
- Tatra Banka (1884-1948 (1884–1948)
- Slovak National Bank (1939–1945)
- Sberbank Slovakia (1991–2017), which had absorbed Ľudová / Volksbank cooperative banks[8][9][10]
- Istrobanka (1992–2009)[11]
- HVB Bank Slovakia (1994–2007), integrating the successive Slovenská Poľnohospodárska Banka (1994–1996), Poľnobanka (1996–2002), and UniBanka (2002–2007)
See also
- List of banks in the euro area
- List of banks in Europe
External links
References
- What are less significant institutions? European Central Bank, 2024-8-2^
- Members and Observers European Banking Authority, retrieved 2025-11-19^
- List of supervised entities - Cut-off date for changes in group structures: 1 September 2025