ANOTHER foreign-owned bank is set to enter the Slovak market.
Oberbank of Austria is expected to open its first branch in Slovakia on April 1, 2009. Preparations for testing the bank’s access to the inter-bank payment system and its application programme system are now taking place, the spokeswoman of the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) Jana Kováčová told the SITA newswire.
In September last year, NBS received a written statement from Austria’s banking supervisory body about the intentions of Oberbank to operate on the Slovak bank market through a branch, based on using one bank licence.
“NBS informed the foreign bank and Austria’s supervisory body about the conditions under which the planned actions can or must be carried out in the Slovak Republic, with regard to the public interest,” SITA quoted Kováčová.
Oberbank was also informed about the legal requirements for a foreign bank branch operating in Slovakia.
On December 5, the branch of Oberbank was entered in the Trade Register of the Court of the Bratislava, District I.
In addition to operating in Austria, Oberbank has been active in Germany since 1990, in the Czech Republic since 2004 and in Hungary since 2007, SITA wrote.
Oberbank will become the tenth foreign bank branch operating in Slovakia. According to SITA, there are nine foreign banks registered with the National Bank of Slovakia: ABN Amro Bank, Banco Mais, BRE Bank, Caylon, Citibank Europe, Commerzbank Aktiengesselschaft, HSBC Bank, ING Bank and J&T Bank.
