Tatra Banka

Tatra Banka is:

• today the name of one of the most important current banks in Slovakia (subsidiary of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International )

• historically the name of the first Slovak bank (but not the first bank in Slovakia)

The historic Tatra bank was founded in the town of Martin by the Slovak entrepreneur Rudolf Krupec as the "Horno-uhorská banka Tatra" (Upper Hungarian Bank Tatra) in 1885 . The first shareholders also included some well-known Slovak personalities ( Janko Jesenský - lawyer and writer, Gustáv Zechenter-Laskomerský - doctor and writer, Matúš Dula - lawyer and politician, etc.). It granted loans mainly to Slovak companies.

After 1918 (the emergence of Czechoslovakia ) the bank became the largest Slovak bank, whose group also included hotels and cinemas. In 1920 it was renamed "Tatrabanka" after a merger with the Sparkasse in Martin.

In 1945 it was nationalized. In 1946 it was merged with the second largest Slovak bank, "Slovenská banka", to form "Slovenská Tatrabanka". This new bank was the only bank in Slovakia until 1950.

In 1950 it became part of the only bank in the country from then on in communist Czechoslovakia , the Státní banka československá (Slov. Štátna banka československá). Legally speaking, the Slovenská Tatrabanka never went out, it was only "retired".