SLOVAKIA

Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics, July 2021.

• The Slovakian central bank is the Národná banka Slovenska (NBS – www.nbs.sk).
• The NBS is a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and undertakes certain activities, such as issuing currency, under the authority of the European Central Bank (ECB – www.ecb.int).

Bank supervision

• In November 2014, the ECB, via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed responsibility for supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (115 significant banking groups have been recognized to date). ‘Less significant’ banks will continue to be supervised by the national supervisory authority, i.e. the NBS.

• There is no standard approach to lifting fees.

• Credit transfers are used by companies to pay salaries and suppliers, and to make tax and treasury payments.
• SEPA credit transfers can be settled via SIPS, STEP2 or via correspondent banking networks.
• Eighteen banks in Slovakia participate in the SEPA credit transfer scheme.
• High-value and urgent domestic and cross-border (within the eurozone) credit transfers can be settled in real time via TARGET2-SK.
• High-value and urgent cross-border credit transfers can also be settled with end-of-day value via the Euro Banking Association's EURO1 system. Slovakian banks do not have direct access to EURO1 but can access the system indirectly through international networks.
• Cross-border transfers can also be made via SWIFT and settled through correspondent banks abroad.
• The European Payment Council’s SCT Inst scheme (a pan-European 24/7 instant payment scheme for SEPA credit transfers) enables the transfer of funds (the maximum threshold value is EUR 100,000) to another account in less than ten seconds. Slovakia is not a participant of the SCT Inst scheme at present but plans to implement it on 1st February 2022.
• EBA Clearing and Italy’s SIA Group have developed and implemented a pan-European platform for instant EUR payments called RT1. It is fully compliant with the SCT Insts scheme and is in line with the ISO 20022 global messaging standards for instant payments.
• EBA Clearing has launched a pan-European request to pay (R2P) infrastructure solution with the support of 27 payment service providers from 11 countries. The new 24/7 service is compatible with the SCT and SCT Inst schemes and allows payees to take the initiative to request a specific payment from the payer.
• TIPS is a pan-European service for the settlement of instant payments in central bank money. The service enables payment service providers and ACHs with access to TARGET2 to offer fund transfers 24/7, 365 days a year. TIPS is aligned with SCT Insts. It is primarily focused on EUR payments but is technically capable of settling payments denominated in other currencies.

• Direct debits are used for regular payments, such as utility bills.
• Direct debits can be settled on a same-day basis via SIPS or via STEP2.
• SEPA direct debit CORE and B2B SEPA direct debit schemes are available in Slovakia. Fifteen banks in Slovakia participate in the SEPA direct debit scheme, seven in the B2B scheme.
• In 2020, SIPS processed more than 261.48 million transactions with a total value of EUR 277,696.19 million. Just 6.57% of the total number of transactions processed were direct directs, comprising just 0.6% of the total value.

• ​Cheques are rarely used in Slovakia.
• Cheques can be cleared and exchanged bilaterally between banks in Slovakia.

• Card payments are increasingly popular, especially for retail transactions.
• There were 5.5 million payment cards in circulation at the end of 2020. The majority of these cards were either VISA or Mastercard-branded cards, and virtually all (99.56%) of them featured contactless technology.
• Payment cards issued in Slovakia were used to make almost 561 million payments in 2020 (an increase of 4.7% on 2019), with a value of EUR 14.3 billion (a 9.9% increase).
• American Express and Diners Club credit cards are available.
• Fiserv Slovakia, Slovakia’s national payment card operator, clears Visa and MasterCard card payments.
• All cards issued are SEPA-compliant with EMV chips.

• There were 2,778 ATMs in Slovakia at the end of 2020.
• There were 62,836 POS terminals in Slovakia at the end of 2020.
• The Bank Card Association operates a national ATM network for its 20 member banks. Other banks operate their own proprietary ATM networks.
• All ATMs and POS terminals are EMV-compliant.

• Single-purpose e-purse schemes are available for use on transport networks and for mobile phone payments.
• Mobile wallet apps, such as Google Pay, Garmin Pay, Fitbit Pay and Apple Pay, are available. Samsung Pay is set to in Slovakia launch in 2021.
• The total number of mobile payments based on domestically issued payment cards increased from 13.6 million in 2019 to 36.6 million in 2020. The total value rose from EUR 262 million to more than EUR 781 million.

• Please contact your BNP Paribas Global Trade Solutions (GTS) relationship manager for more information.

• The EU has trade agreements in place with over 30 countries.
• The EU is currently in free trade negotiations with a number of countries, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, Indonesia, Mercosur (the Southern Common Market), Uruguay, and the USA.
• The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force on 1 May 2021.

Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics, July 2021.