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Slovakia 2025

Market Overview
Payment Organisation ZBK, the Slovak Bank Card Association.
Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands.
Market Structure Like other CEE markets, continued rapid growth of card use in Slovakia. By end-2023, the number of cards had reached 6.31 million and there are now 180.2 payments on cards per capita.

Cards issued are credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards. Most cards are contactless, and their use increased significantly in 2023.

Slovakia is one of the showcase markets for the adoption of contactless cards. 99.79% of all cards were contactless at end-2023.

Slovenská Sporitelna (SLSP), VUB, and Tatra Banka, the three largest banks, are owned respectively by Erste Group (A), Intesa Sanpaolo (I) and Raiffeisen Bank International (A).

Emerging Open Banking payment ecosystem.
Notable Market Trends Contactless rollout, MPOS terminals, HCE NFC pilots, mobile banking apps, contactless ATMs, Apple Pay, Google Pay.

As the effect of the pandemic fades out, online card payments in Slovakia declined by 12% in 2023. Mobile payments have risen sharply, reaching over 259 million in 2023.
Major Card Issuers SLSP, VUB, Tatra Banka, CSOB SR, Postova banka.
Major Card Acquirers Global Payments s.r.o., VUB, Tatra Banka, CSOB SR.
Major Card Processors Nexi SIA, Global Payments, SLSP, RCPC (RBI).

Key Statistics 2023
Population 5.45 million, with 1.08 cards per capita.
Cards Debit: 5.32 million

Delayed Debit: 1,806 cards

Credit: 0.58 million

Total: 6.31 million
Card Payments Debit 832.77 million; value €34.31 billion

Delayed debit 1.05 million; value €38.28 million

Credit 53.18 million; value €1.81 billion

Total 887.00 million; value €36.17 billion
POS Terminals 101,029
POS Payments All cards: 763.16 million; value €18.43 billion
ATMs 3,314 
ATM Withdrawals All cards: 79.05 million; value €20.74 billion
Digital A2A Payments Credit Transfers: 481.1 million (value: €1,496 billion)

Direct Debits: 32.6 million (value: €4.4 billion)
Note: Italic forecast figures for 2024F are estimated in the payment market context based on 2023 figures.

Source: ECB, National Bank of Slovakia (NBS).

General Note – ECB changed its statistical reporting

In the 22nd Edition of the Digital & Payment Card Yearbooks there were some statistical reporting changes to address. The statistical data for 2022 was based on the new ECB regulation ECB/2020/59, which replaced the ECB reporting statistics regulation from 2013 up to 2021 (ECB/2013/43), the well-proven ECB bluebook reporting was discontinued.

For 2022, the ECB declared all data as provisional, because the first-time reporting under the new standard may include errata and double counting.

The researchers and editors worked hard in the 22nd edition to balance out any obvious errata, but it remains that in some instances the data from 2022 cannot be compared to 2021 and previous years.

Where this has occurred, we have clearly stated it and have added explanation to the table and text.

In this, the 23rd Edition we have clarified any errata and filled in all missing data from the previous year.

Introduction – Payments in Slovakia

Slovakia is a parliamentary democratic republic with a multi-party system. Slovakia became a member of the European Union in 2004 and the euro zone in 2009.

With Slovakia already one of the most prolific markets for contactless payments in the CEE region, Slovakians are avid users of mobile payments through a range of apps and bank mobile platforms. Overall, in 2023, domestically issued payment cards were used to make more than 259.39 million mobile payments, and the total value of these transactions was €5,631.9 million. Mobile payments are expected to accelerate over the next few years as Slovakia ramps up FinTech investments.

Slovakia is an attractive country for foreign investors mainly because of its low wages, low tax rates, educated labour force, favourable geographic location in the heart of Central Europe, strong political stability and good international relations. Slovakian regulators are preparing for the country to become a FinTech hub in the CEE region, with the launch of a development sandbox being rolled out. Slovakia is aiming to become a prime destination for FinTech firms, particularly those that previously were based in the UK pre-Brexit and are now relocating to EU countries.

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, and disruptive technologies have set the stage for digital payments for the digital economy in Slovakia. They have accelerated digital payment transformation and mobile payment services, as well as cardless IBAN-based payments directly from bank accounts.

In the last decade, Slovakian consumers have embraced mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT). This change significantly impacts their shopping experience. Consumers have become increasingly connected and they have started to purchase anywhere, at any time, from any device.

In addition, new consumer demands are a game changer. Slovakian consumers like digital banking apps with access to all their accounts at different banks in one single app, with the option to make payments directly from their bank account of choice. Additionally, they appreciate more banking services and payment services added to their mobile banking app. Consumer adoption of digital payments in Slovakia is driven by minimal cost, secure payments and a high level of user convenience.

Driven by the development of social media and mobile devices, the emergence of permanently connected consumers has impacted their interactions with brands but also their expectations of how to shop using the increasing number of touch points between consumers and merchants, e.g.:

The ongoing rollout of a mature online and mobile communication infrastructure is an enabler for digital card payment transformation and for Open Banking payments in Slovakia.

In a few years from now, mobile banking apps and mobile payment apps are expected to combine account management, digital payment services, personal finance management and value-added digital services from location finders to digital vouchers.

Cash payments, card payments and cardless payments directly from bank accounts (A2A payments) remain all relevant for Slovakian merchants and are heavily used by Slovakian consumers.

This country profile provides an introduction into two competing payment ecosystems in Slovakia:

Legal Framework for Payment Services

The legal framework for European payment services is a joint project undertaken by the European Commission as the regulator, the European Central Bank (ECB) as the Euro System, and the European Payments Council (EPC) with the objective of standardising payments in Europe and to remove existing barriers, promote cross-border competition between payment services, strengthen the European internal market and drive the digital payment transformation.

Based on its vision, the EU Commission has therefore created a unique legal framework for cashless B2C and B2B payments that supersedes pre-existing national legislation and is binding for financial service providers and payment service providers throughout the EU.

Slovakia has largely transposed this legal framework into its national payment legislation.

Historically, there has been a de facto national regulation of all Slovakian payment schemes with high technical barriers to ensure and defend payment security.

With the implementation of the payment services directive, all payment services in Slovakia are based on the unique legal framework for payment services of the European Commission effective in the European Economic Area (EEA).

In addition, the respective rules and regulations of the domestic card scheme and the international card schemes continue to be applied by the card payment service providers (e.g. EMV, PCI, RTS SCA, and SEPA Cards Framework), respectively.

Legal Framework relevant for Payment Services in Slovakia

The revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, had established a legal and regulatory framework for payment services providers, enforcing several protections for their clients such as safeguarding of funds; and required them to execute processes in accordance with banking regulations, such as KYC and AML. It has already resulted in significant progress regarding the integration of the European retail payments markets.

Following the alignment with the EEA region, the legal framework for payment services in Slovakia includes the directives and regulations of the European Commission (EC), the ECB, and/or the national central bank (NCB) of the individual country.

All card payment service providers and all cardless payment service providers of the Open Banking payment ecosystem must apply for the European legal framework including:

Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
PSD2 is the key directive for borderless banking and payment services in Europe.
Among others, PSD2 regulates digital payment services and payment service providers such as payment institutions, e-money institutions, payment initiation service providers and account information service providers. PSD2 formulates the Open Banking Mandate for regulated access to payment accounts.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – effective from May 2018
GDPR establishes a regulatory framework for customer control of their data through consent mechanisms, the right to be forgotten and the right to retrieve all personal data for re-use at other service providers of choice, thereby preventing a ‘lock-in’ situation.

E-Money Directive (EMD)
The EMD sets out the rules on the business and supervision of e-money institutions.

Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD)
The AMLD6 aims to improve the harmonisation of the criminal liability of money laundering and terrorist financing across the EU27.

Customer Rights Directive (CRD)
CRD gives consumers the same strong rights across the EU. It aligns and harmonises national consumer rules, for example on the information consumers need to be given before they purchase something, and their right to cancel online purchases, wherever they shop in the EU.

EU Price Regulation for cross-border payments
In 2001, Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001, followed in 2009 by Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, fixed uniform underlying conditions for processing cross-border payments in euro, and the fees for intra-EU cross-border payments in euro were aligned with those for domestic payments in euro.

SEPA End-Date Regulation
SEPA payment instruments replaced domestic A2A payment instrument formats for euro payments.

Card Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR)
The IFR caps interchange fees for payments with consumer cards, effective from 9 December 2015. It increases transparency on fees thus permitting retailers to know the level of fees paid when accepting cards.

Domestic bank service laws
Complementary to EC directives and EC regulations.

Characteristics of the PSD2 Outlook: PSD3 and PSR

The adoption of PSD2 has formalised the relationship between banks and trusted payment providers (TPPs) by establishing the Open Banking Mandate providing open access to customer account data and the payments infrastructure. This is expected to stimulate the FinTech market to develop new integrated services models for both consumer and business customers.

This regulation is a reaction to the growing demand from customers as mobile and internet applications have become widely adopted, driving expectations in how services should be delivered across all industries. Other market segments have adopted Open Banking APIs to respond to this demand and shown that innovative applications can grow business and change customer behaviour.

PSD2 has a significant impact on the European payments industry. According to the EC, the revised Payment Services Directive brings several new important elements and improvements to the EU payment market e.g.:

In 2022, the regulator started a PSD2 review process, which will end up in a revised PSD2 dubbed PSD3. While consultations are currently ongoing, the revisions are expected to address the achievements of the PSD2 and evaluate the need for a revised standard.

Proposed EC Revisions to the EU Payment Services Regulation – PSD3 and PSR 

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) published its proposed revisions to EU payment services legislation, as well as a proposal on Open Finance/data access in the financial services sector beyond Open Banking/payment accounts in the form of a new Open Finance framework called “FIDA”.

Essentially, the EC is proposing that PSD2 would be split into two different instruments. These will ensure consumers can continue to make electronic payments and transactions safely and securely in the EU, domestically or cross-border, in euro and non-euro. Whilst safeguarding their rights, it also aims to provide greater choice of payment service providers on the market:

The objective of the regulation is to enhance harmonisation of the rules and enforcement across the various EU Member States. In addition, the EC proposed to merge the E-Money Directive (EMD2) with the proposed PSD3 and PSR texts, so as to have one coherent regime for both payment services and e-money services, and thereby ensure a level-playing field between PIs and EMIs.

PSD3 also amends the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) in order to allow non-bank PSPs (e.g. PIs and EMIs) to participate directly in SFD-designated payment systems. Fintechs will be given access to all EU payment systems, with appropriate safeguards, and giving them a right to have a bank account. That way, those non-bank PSPs would no longer need to rely on banks in order to execute payment transactions.

A system to check IBANs and a platform to enable payment service providers to share fraud-related information are two proposals around consumer protection, including an extension to all credit transfers of IBAN/name-matching verification services. These have been proposed by the Commission for instant payments in Euro. All consumers should benefit from them, for both regular and instant credit transfers.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is given once again a number of mandates under PSD3 and the PSR to prepare draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and draft implementing technical standards (ITS), ultimately to be adopted by the EC, as well as guidelines, and to continue maintaining the register.

In 2024, significant progress was made in updating PSD2. In April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposals for PSD3 and PSR at first reading. While the exact timelines for enforcement are not yet confirmed, it is anticipated that the finalised versions of PSD3 and PSR may become available by late 2024 or early 2025.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU). Since the Regulation applies regardless of where websites are based, it must be heeded by all sites that attract European visitors, even if they don’t specifically market goods or services to EU residents.

Adopted in April 2016, the Regulation came into full effect in May 2018, after a two-year transition period. The GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and is designed to:

The GDPR mandates that EU visitors to all websites must be given a number of data disclosures. Sites must also take steps to facilitate such EU consumer rights as timely notification in the event of personal data being breached (breach notification). Among others, the GDPR mandates the user’s right to access their data and the right to be forgotten. In addition, the conditions for consent have been strengthened, and companies are no longer able to use long, illegible terms and conditions full of legalese. Also, it must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.

eIDAS Regulation and Digital ID Trends

The electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services regulation (eIDAS) is a set of EU standards and regulations for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. It was established in the EU Regulation as of 23 July 2014, relating to electronic identification, and repeals directive 1999/93/EC from December 1999. It entered into force on 17 September 2014 and applies from 1 July 2016 except for certain articles, listed under its article 52.

In June 2021, the European Commission proposed an update to eIDAS that will enable every European to have a set of digital identity credentials recognised anywhere in the EU. With eIDAS 2.0, by 2024, all EU member countries must make a digital identity wallet available to every citizen who wants one. Many digital ID schemes operate based on super-secure passwords and/or mobile apps confirmed by a second factor, either passwords or one-time token or biometric factors such as fingerprints.

Digital ID in Europe has been proliferating rapidly in recent years. To date, both the nature of these schemes and their application have varied widely – for example, BankIDs in the Nordics being used to support instant payments and the delivery of harmonised government services.

eID platform initiative – In May 2017, a group of European companies including banks, vehicle manufacturers and technology providers signed a “corresponding declaration of intent” to establish a joint, pan-industry platform that will let their customers use a so-called “master key” for registration and identification when accessing online services across a range of sectors including government, aviation and retail.

Biometric Authentication Services

As a form of digital identity, biometric factors have been gaining ground across Europe in recent years, especially since the EU mandated their use for national ID cards and passports from August 2021.

In the payments industry, European banks and other account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) have started to support new biometrics technology companies that will develop client identification and authentication systems. They will be dedicated to the research and development of software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or fingerprint reading.

With the EU regulator’s decision to mandate Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the revised payment services directive, PSD2, biometric authentications look set to grow further in importance as part of the payments landscape.

Companies such as Sweden’s Fingerprints (for online payment ID) and the UK’s Fingopay (for physical payments) have pioneered their use in P2P and P2B transactions, while some national ID schemes such as BankID in the Nordics and nemID now include biometric factors alongside PIN in their log-in processes.

Among others, in 2024, payments-specific biometric initiatives and pilots in Europe include:

In 2019, SLSP reported that biometric client acquisition was helping to increase business volumes. Its digital George platform enables potential customers to apply for an account remotely with just a valid ID card, a mobile phone with a camera, and an internet connection.

Tatra Banka also focused on acquisition of new clients through digital channels and using Face Biometrics technology, which identifies non-clients of the bank via the Tatra banka mobile app. Tatra also implemented the regulatory technical standards on Strong Customer Authentication and Secure Communication under PSD2 in Tatra’s payment services.

Mastercard Identity Check – In October 2016, Mastercard launched its biometric payment authentication service, Mastercard Identity Check in 12 European countries. European consumers can now validate online purchases using 2-factor authentication such as one-time codes sent by SMS or fingerprints in their mobile app.

Banking Sector

Narodna banka Slovenska (NBS) is the central bank of Slovakia and supervises Slovak banking operations together with its Financial Market Supervision Unit (‘the FMS Unit’). The legal framework in which Slovak financial institutions and companies operate is based on EU directives and Slovak banking laws. Slovakia joined the euro system in January 2009, becoming the second CEE country, after Slovenia, to do so.

Though Slovak banks survived the credit crunch in relatively good shape, the economy as a whole fell into a deep recession. GDP fell by 4.7% in 2009 after four years of growth at an average rate of 8%. The slowing real GDP growth – from 2.8% in 2011 annually to 1.4% in 2013 – had a significant influence on the development of the Slovak banking sector. In 2014 and 2015, real GDP grew by 2.8% and 3.9%, respectively. In 2016, GDP grew by 3.3% followed by 3.2% in 2017, 4.1% in 2018 and slowed to 2.9% in 2019.

GDP was predicted to grow by 3.6% in 2020, but the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic led to GDP declining by 4.4%. The economic sector worst affected was services, but the pandemic also caused serious domestic supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks in several sectors. Exports fell in 2020, but net trade nevertheless made a positive contribution to economic growth.  Unlike in the euro area, Slovakia’s economy did not return to its pre-pandemic level in 2021. The industrial part of the economy began the year favourably, but the recouping of pandemic-related losses was soon stalled by supply chain disruptions, and two strong pandemic waves in 2021. In each case, stringent pandemic containment measures were imposed, resulting in a large proportion of services and trade being temporarily shut down. Private consumption in particular was adversely affected. Following the easing of pandemic measures in spring 2021, in Q2 2021 consumer demand surpassed its pre-pandemic level, and GDP for 2021 grew by 3.2%. In 2022, GDP growth slowed in momentum to 1.8%, dragged by supply chain disruptions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, GDP growth sustained the slow momentum with a 1.6% due to elevated inflation which eroded household purchasing power.

Inflation decelerated to 2.0% in 2020, with the slowdown caused mainly by lower prices of energy and food. Inflation climbed over the course of 2021, reaching 2.8% for 2021 overall. Inflation has increased to 12.1% in 2022 from 2.8% in 2021, with energy and food prices passing through to prices of other goods and services. By 2023, inflation averaged 10.5% due to higher volatility in food prices.

On 4 November 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB), via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed the responsibility of 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 (by September 2024, 113 significant banking groups have been recognised). All other ‘less significant’ banks continue to be supervised by the NBS.

Since 1 January 2015, the EU Savings Tax Directive, requiring the automatic exchange of tax information on accounts held by citizens abroad with its fellow EU member states, has been enforced in Slovakia.

Bank Levy Regulation – According to Raiffeisen RBI, the bank levy, introduced by the previous Slovak government in January 2012 at 0.2% of corporate deposits only, was extended to include retail deposits and increased to 0.4%. Also, the government imposed an additional extraordinary one-off tax amounting to 0.1% of banks’ taxable profits in Q4 2012. All in all, Slovak banks paid €170 million in the form of bank levies in 2012. In addition to the levy itself, increasing interference by the government in regulating bank services and fees negatively influenced the performance of banks in Slovakia.

These developments provoked the closure of three foreign branches of big international banks in Slovakia. UniCredit Bank transformed to a foreign branch – its Slovak operations being partially steered by the Czech UniCredit operations.

In July 2020, the bank levy was scrapped, which helped banks to buffer their aggregate profits. Had the levy been retained, the decline in aggregate profit would probably have been one of the highest among Europe’s national banking sectors.

Structure

At end-2023, there were 11 banks (2013-16: 13, 2017: 12, 2018: 9, 2019: 12, 2020: 12, 2021: 11, 2022: 11), of which 2 banks have no foreign financial involvement, and 9 are foreign-owned banks, and 14 branches of foreign banks operating in the banking sector of Slovakia. All but the state-owned Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank and Eximbanka have foreign capital. In addition, there were three representative offices of foreign banks. Three of Slovakia’s domestic banks were savings banks.

Most commercial banks offer both investment and commercial banking services. Since 1998, the banking sector has been largely privatised, leading to a massive increase in foreign investment. In 2021, the market share of foreign-owned banks amounted to 93.8% of the total bank assets, and state-owned banks held less than 1%.

The Slovak banking sector consists predominantly of foreign-owned domestic banks (mainly owned by banking groups from Austria, Italy and Belgium) or branches of foreign banks. The 3 largest banks (all foreign-owned) account for more than half of total banking assets. In 2021, foreign capital in the bank sector mostly came from Belgium and the Czech Republic. The increase in Belgian-held capital took place mostly within the group of banks, while the inflow of Czech capital was used to increase the share capital of foreign bank branches. Meanwhile, the share of Hungarian capital has fallen year on year, owing to the recent change of the majority shareholder of OTP Bank.

As of 2021, the total number of banks decreased by one foreign-owned bank compared to 2020, and the number of branches and lower organisational units in the banking sector decreased by 88 to 984.

In 2012, three branches of foreign credit institutions providing services under the ‘single passport system’ ended their operations in Slovakia, i.e. UNIBON, HSBC Bank, and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.

Originally state-owned, SLSP and VUB were privatised in 2001. Notable foreign investors include Austria’s Erste Group Bank (Slovenská sporiteľňa) and RBI (Tatra Banka); Belgium’s KBC Group (CSOB); Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo (VUB) and the Slovakian branch of UniCredit Bank (CZ); Sberbank Slovensko (2017: absorbed by Prima Banka) and Hungary’s OTP Bank (OTP Banka Slovensko).

In order of size, today’s big four are SLSP, VUB Banka, Tatra Banka and CSOB SR, all are foreign-owned and represent 71.57% of the banking sector’s total assets. As a branch of a foreign bank, the Slovak branch of UniCredit Bank CR+SK is no longer included in the Slovak total bank assets.

1 – Main Slovakian Banks (2023)

[ninja_tables id=”4980″]

Note: OTP Bank was acquired by KBC Group in February 2020 and was integrated into CSOB Banka in November 2020.
Note: the Slovak branch of UniCredit Bank CR+SK (market share: 9%) is not included above.
Note: Postova Banka was rebranded as 365.bank in 2021
Source: Individiual bank reports

SLSP (Slovenská sporiteľňa), the market leader by total bank assets with more than 2.2 million customers, has been 100%-owned by Erste Group of Austria since January 2005. In 2023, it reported approximately 2 million customers,  178 branches, and 4 regional commercial centres in Slovakia, along with 754 ATMs. In June 2016, SLSP transferred its acquirer business into the newly established joint venture Global Payments s.r.o., which is owned by Global Payments Europe (CZ), Comercia (E), and Erste Group (A).

SLSP stated it had met all its key 2020 targets and deadlines in the important ECB project T2-T2S consolidation, with plans to join the Slovak national plan for implementing instant payments in February 2022. In 2022, SLSP also worked intensively on preparations for a major technological and functional change within the Target2 system, as well as changes brought by the Eurosystem in the framework of the T2/T2S consolidation project. As of March 2023, it has decided, as one of the first banks in the market, to switch from the current MT standard to the new MX standard in the field of cross-border payments processing.

VUB Banka (Vseobecna Uverova Banka), the second biggest, is 97.03%-owned by Intesa Sanpaolo Group (I). It reported 167 branches in Slovakia serving 1.2 million customers as at end-2023.

Tatra Banka, the third biggest and the first privately-owned bank in Slovakia, was established in 1990 with the assistance of RBI Group of Austria, which owns 78.78% of the shares with the remaining 21.22% being in free float. In 2023, it reported 140 branches serving more than 1 million customers through 361 ATMs.

At the end of 2017, Tatra Banka absorbed ZUNO Banka Slovakia.

CSOB, the country’s fourth-biggest bank – former Slovak operations of KBC’ Czech subsidiary CSOB, increased its presence in July 2008 with the acquisition of Istrobanka from BAWAG PSK of Austria. In 2023, it reported 110 branches and 430 ATMs servicing 0.8 million clients in Slovakia.

With the acquisition of OTP Bank in November 2020, CSOB gained tens of thousands of new clients and increased cross-selling opportunities. In June 2021, KBC became the 100% shareholder of OTP Bank Slovakia. In October 2021, ČSOB Bank merged with OTP Bank Slovakia, with ČSOB Bank becoming the legal successor, which took over all the rights and obligations of OTP.

UniCredit Bank in Slovakia was established by merger of UniBanka and HVB Bank Slovakia in April 2007. Both banks operated on the Slovak market more than 17 years already. Since December 2013, UniCredit Bank in the Czech Republic and in the Slovak Republic has provided banking products and services under a single trade name UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia. In Slovakia, the new bank’s name is supplemented by the words foreign bank branch (UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia – pobočka zahraničnej banky). Pol’nobanka, controlled by UniCredit, was renamed UniBanka from April 2002. In 2023, UniCredit Bank CZ+SK operated around 46 branches and 12 commercial centres in Slovakia and 400 ATMs.

365.bank (Poštova banka) – In February 2004, a majority stake in Postova banka, the post office bank, was acquired by Istrokapital, a local investment group. In September 2012, NBS decided to grant prior approvals to J&T Banka (CZ) and to J&T Finance Group (CZ), to acquire holdings of 37.16% and 52.84%, respectively, in the share capital and voting rights of Poštová banka. In June 2021 Poštova banka was rebranded as 365.bank as a mainly digital brand, which in addition to 62 bank branches also took over the 1,450 points of sale of Poštová banka. 365.bank had more than 1 million clients and more than 1,300 points of sale in Slovakia by end-2023.

Prima Banka Slovensko – In December 2015, Sberbank Europe sold its 99.5% stake in Sberbank Slovensko to Penta Investments. The transaction was closed in July 2016. The Penta Group has been active in the banking market since 2007, when it became the sole shareholder of Privat Banka. In 2011, it became the majority owner of Prima Banka (previously Dexia Bank SK). In August 2017, Prima Banka merged with Sberbank Slovensko. The enlarged bank operates under the brand Prima Banka Slovensko. As of 2023, the bank had 118 branches, and 290 ATMs, making it the third-largest network of branches and ATMs and the only bank with coverage of all 79 of Slovakia’s administrative districts.

Sberbank Slovensko – As of November 2012, the Austrian Volksbank International AG (VBI) and previously the Eastern Europe banking subsidiary of Volksbank AG (OeVAG) became Sberbank Europe AG. It manages a network of nine universal banks in eight CEE countries: Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and the Ukraine (see Austria and Russia profiles). In February 2013, Volksbank Slovensko was rebranded as Sberbank Slovensko. At-end 2015, Sberbank Slovensko had total assets of €1.8 billion and reported more than 110,000 customers serviced by 43 branches, out of which 17 were in Bratislava.

In August 2017, Prima Bank acquired Sberbank Slovensko.

OTP Banka Slovensko – In April 2002, OTP, the largest Hungarian bank, took control of Banka Slovensko, since renamed OTP Banka Slovensko. It reported 62 branches in 2019.

In February 2020, KBC Group and OTP Bank reached agreement for KBC to acquire ownership of 99.44% of the shares in OTP Banka Slovensko. By the end of 2020, KBC announced the completion of the acquisition following receipt of regulatory approvals.

A number of other western banks including Citibank, ING and Dexia have set up operations in the Slovak market. Home Credit, the subsidiary of Czech-based PPF Group, which launched operations in Slovakia in 1999, announced an expansion of its Slovak business in June 2008 with agreement to buy GE Money Slovakia.

Citibank Europe with its registered office in Dublin (IRL) is the legal owner of Citibank (Slovakia), which conducted its business in the Slovak Republic from 1 November 1995 to 31 December 2008 based on the banking licence issued by NBS.

ZUNO Bank claimed to be one of the first direct bank operation in the CEE countries. ZUNO was launched by Raiffeisen RBI in Slovakia in December 2010 and in Czech Republic in mid-2011. According to RBI, in the first six months of operation ZUNO exceeded expectations attracting 18,000 customers who deposited more than €125 million with the bank.

At end-2014, ZUNO serviced more than 250,000 clients in Slovakia and in Czech Republic. In 2013, ZUNO fully introduced a mobile banking application for iOS and Android with many handy and competitive features such as invoice scanner or augmented reality built within the ATM locator. Since the beginning, ZUNO has been very active on social media such us Facebook, Twitter or online blogs. By end-2013, 17,000 fans (SK) and 10,000 fans (CZ) made a difference on both markets within the banking sector.

In June 2017, ZUNO Bank Slovakia ended its activities on the Slovak banking market and Tatra Banka became the successor bank.

Digital Challenger Banks 

A number of digital challenger banks have entered Slovakia, e.g. N26, Revolut, and Wise. They already have a clear Open Banking strategy in place.

In parallel, many Slovakian banks co-operate and partner with trusted digital payment providers and FinTechs to prepare for the Open Banking ecosystem, enrich their digital banking services, and to offer additional mobile banking app features.

Digital challenger banks in Slovakia includes 365.bank and Air Bank.

Air Bank – In May 2021, Moneta Money Bank signed a Framework Agreement regarding the acquisition of Air Bank, Home Credit’s Czech and Slovak operations, and Benxy. During 2021, Moneta’s shareholders approved its strategic acquisition of Air Bank Group from PPF Group for a total consideration of CZK 25.9 billion, which would place Moneta among the country’s three largest banks by number of clients and position it as the market leader in consumer lending. However, in May 2022, Moneta and PPF terminated the deal due to macroeconomic changes which affected the planned merger.

Payment services are becoming more sophisticated and secure. In 2020 the NBS significantly stepped up its communication with potential applicants for payment services licences, contacting them in person, by post and online. The result was a sizeable increase in demand for PSD2 licences in Q4 2020, mainly due to the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

There was also intensive communication with banks about the new opportunities in payments and services which PSD2 has brought to the market. Another significant task for NBS in 2020 was to monitor the introduction of strong customer authentication requirements for e-commerce payments, i.e. online card payments.

The NBS is actively developing a financial innovation ecosystem in Slovakia. By the end of 2020, more than 50 requests had been addressed through the NBS Innovation Hub, launched in 2019. Most of them concerned crypto-assets, the provision of payment services, and the provision of automated online investment advice. Between April 2022 and March 2023, the Innovation Hub handled 19 enquiries, up from 16 in the previous year. As in previous years, the discussions within the Hub mainly concerned the basic obligations of crypto-asset service providers resulting from the current legal framework and the obligations of registration and obtaining a tied trade license under the Slovak Trade Licensing Act. The persistent interest in crypto-assets is also related to developments at the European level. By 2022, NBS actively tried to increase the innovation potential of the Slovak financial market. Its two main instruments for supporting financial innovation are the Innovation Hub and the Regulatory Sandbox. The enquiries received by the Hub in 2022 concerned predominantly the area of crypto-assets. The Regulatory Sandbox was launched in January 2022 and had its first year of operation in 2022. Its activities included the testing of a digital mortgage service. In 2023, The NBS continues to work on ensuring the smooth functioning of Open Banking services by actively supervising the removal of obstacles to Open Banking using the supervisory tools at its disposal. In 2023 there was increasing trend in the uptake of individual Open Banking services.

In December 2020 the NBS Board decided to support innovation development in the Slovak financial market by building cooperation with business accelerators in the financial market and by establishing a regulatory sandbox, launching it in January 2022. The sandbox allows participants, on the basis of consultations with the NBS, to engage in regulatory compliant financial innovation, including live testing in the Slovak financial market. The purpose of the platform is to facilitate the implementation of financial innovation in Slovakia. The Bank became the eleventh supervisory authority in the EU to establish this innovation-supporting instrument.

In March 2021, the Slovak FinTech Association announced the launch of the official FinTech Hub Slovakia, in association with Mastercard and VacuumLabs. Start-ups or scale-ups looking to enter the region can now apply to join the programme. Members will be able to access networks, regulatory guidelines and tech support they need to accelerate in the region. Based in Bratislava, Slovakia, this is the first FinTech Hub, designed to support innovation within the CEE region. It demonstrates the serious intention to build up Slovakia as the next global leader in financial technology. The Hub will further help members to obtain the necessary licences in the sector.

Digital Banking

All Slovak retail banks offer online banking services and mobile banking apps to their clients. Services available include balance and transaction reporting and payment initiation. Services available include balance and transaction reporting and payment initiation. In 2023, 58% of all Slovakians were e-banking users, up from 41% in 2014.

There is no bank-independent electronic banking standard in Slovakia; each bank offers its own proprietary system for corporate banking purposes. The bank-independent MultiCash platform is widely used in combination with the Czech-based Gemini system.

Mobile banking apps offering immediate mobile money transfer services in Slovakia include George and PayPal.

SLSP – At the beginning of 2011, SLSP launched IB MINI, its mobile banking service for smartphone platforms: iOS (Apple), Android (HTC, Samsung), Symbian (Nokia), RIM (Blackberry), and Windows Mobile.

In 2015, Erste Bank launched its new digital banking platform and mobile banking app, George. Once downloaded and activated, the wallet allows online banking, in-app credit transfers, account information, cardholder information and geo-blocking of cards.

In 2019, SLSP launched a mobile app designed especially for businesses and entrepreneurs, Business24, which is available for Android and iOS. It also launched Apple Pay, followed by Google Pay, Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay, claiming to be the only bank in Slovakia to offer all mobile payment services in Slovakia.

In 2023, SLSP reported that it maintained its leadership position in digital banking with 1.2 million registered users of its mobile app ‘George’. SLSP also enhanced mobile payments with a new solution, Payme, enabling IBAN transfers via the mobile app. The total number of products sold via digital channels has grown significantly, by 68% as of 2021, meaning digital sales thus accounted for more than a fifth of all sales, with this share being significantly higher in the case of some products. By 2023, the share of digital sales of consumer loans stood at 50%. A clear sign of clients’ interest in digital solutions is that over 20% of the new business accounts opened in 2023 were opened in the George app.

SLSP also introduced Vesna, its AI-driven digital customer service assistant as a holographic 3D avatar. The automated conversation interface is integrated directly into the IT architecture, so clients can also get an answer to frequently asked questions in writing on the bank’s website.

Together with 2 other banks, SLSP has signed up to the National Plan of the Slovak Republic, according to which instant payments will be made available to clients from February 2022. Instant payments will work only between banks that have decided to offer this service, but it will be possible to send or receive instant payments with foreign banks offering this service in 36 countries.

Tatra Banka – In November 2016, Tatra Banka launched its new MobilePay app. In addition to mobile contactless payments and online card management, the app offers safe online purchases using one-off tokens.

From October 2018, Tatra Banka customers verify their ID on their mobile phone. According to Tatra Banka, users first take a photo of both sides of their identification card. Afterwards, they are prompted to take a selfie to verify that the image is actually the same as the picture on the submitted ID. A ‘liveness test’ is performed for added security wherein the client has to follow with his or her eyes a randomly moving dot appearing on the mobile screen.

In 2021, Tatra Banka reported a significant increase in the active use of digital channels to purchase and provide products and services. Tatra Banka was the first in Slovakia to offer the mass segment a digital application for account transfers from another bank. In 2023, the bank introduced significant new services and improvements to enhance client satisfaction and the user experience. In 2023, Tatra Banka reported that more than 99% of transactions were made through digital channels with less than 1% executed manually. Over 58 million (2022: 51 million) domestic payments were made via client apps such as internet banking, the mobile app, and Tatra Banka VIAMO.

In 2023, the Tatra Banka application surpassed two important milestones – 600,000 users logged in per month (2022: 560,000) and 20 million logins per month. In mobile banking, Tatra Banka introduced a new feature, the lite version of the Tatra Banka app. This unique new product offers much easier navigation and control of the basic app functions such as accounts, transactions, and payments. This simplifies the user experience for basic needs and products. In 2022, a new feature that was included was the option to send instant payments to participating banks, which was offered to clients at the beginning of the year, significantly accelerating interbank payments.

In 2023, within the TatraPay internet payment service (credit transfer to a contract merchant’s account), the number of transactions increased by 43% and the value of transactions grew by 33% year-on-year. In total, more than 6.4 million payments with a value exceeding €296 million were made using TatraPay.

For non-clients, the bank prepared a web interface to verify their identity using face biometrics and their ID card. Moreover, online verification of non-clients also allows them to receive an instalment loan from Tatra Banka to make purchases at selected online stores.

The scope of the assistance provided by Chatbot Adam, which is used as part of DIALOG Live services as an intermediary in service chats with clients, is continuously increasing. The chatbot was able to handle almost 75% of all chat queries received by DIALOG Live. In 2022, Chatbot Adam strengthened its role among electronic distribution and communication channels. It handles more than 28,000 client conversations per month, which is almost 80% more than in 2022. In 2023, Chatbot Adam also played an important role in the Tatra Banka digital environment. It handled almost 35,000 client conversations per month, almost 23% more than in 2022. It helps to significantly reduce the workload of the contact centre, as it handles around 40% of conversations compared to incoming calls to DIALOG Live.

In 2022, the bank continued to develop an Open Banking strategy designed to allow clients to access the bank’s products and services through external environments. In May 2022, the bank launched a new portal for developers, where they can register and try API services for free. The portal provides complete documentation for APIs, and the total number of developers registered in 2022 was 773. In 2023, Tatra Banka continued in the development of its Open Banking strategy. The option to connect some Czech banks was added in the Premium API accounts service. The option to enter payments from accounts in other Slovak banks was added in the Premium API payments service. The bank also managed to extend the ecosystem of partners who make the service available. Today, more than 6,700 accounts are connected in the service, i.e. an increase by 219% year-on year.

ČSOB SR – in 2019, ČSOB added several key functionalities to its new internet banking platform Moja ČSOB.

Since 2019, payment orders have been enabled through the PAYME service. This new feature allows the sharing of payment information using a generated link, for example through chat applications or text messages.

In mid-2020, CSOB provided its clients, holders of Mastercard payment cards, with access to third-party applications Apple Pay, Google Pay, Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay. In autumn 2020, the apps became available to VISA payment cardholders as well.  At the same time, CSOB offered a new CSOB SmartToken application to its clients, to enable sign-ins to Moja CSOB internet banking and signing payments. It also implemented many activities to support the use of the application and move clients from the old authentication method and SMS code authorisation.

As of 2020, internet banking was used by more than 80,000 clients.  In 2020, ČSOB SmartBanking saw an increase in the number of users by more than 20,000. In total, it was used by180,000 unique users. In 2020, CSOB clients logged into the mobile app 27 times per month on average.

UniCredit Bank – In January 2022, UniCredit launched the OPEN digital platform as an integrated expansion of its digital offerings to enable personalised and seamless interactions across all sales channels. After its successful implementation initially in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, OPEN will be rolled out in all UniCredit markets, as part of its €2.8 billion investment in digitisation. In 2022, the bank continued to implement its strategy based on the multichannel OPEN concept, which enables easy client access to banking services, as well as remote and paperless service in the areas of current account opening, consumer finance and mortgages. With the addition of more products and options, the platform facilitated an increase in digital sales, shorter processing times and an overall increase in comfort for clients in 2022. The Bank’s branches sold four times more products through the digital platform than in 2021, the platform saved 1.4 million sheets of paper and tens of thousands of hours of work. At the end of 2023, the share of digital sales increased significantly. As for current accounts and consumer credit, around 70% of all sales were made digitally in 2023. Moreover, 30-40% of all new accounts and consumer loans were arranged remotely by clients themselves. Similarly, sales of loans through the call centre increased by more than 50% compared to 2021.

In Slovakia, the penetration of active digital banking users accounted for 85% of all active clients in 2023. In November 2021, UniCredit introduced, in cooperation with VISA, a  new UniCredit SoftPOS app, aimed at SMEs.

In mobile banking, UniCredit Slovakia implemented a new version of the SmartBanking app with an improved user interface, which has been used in the Czech Republic since the previous year.

VUB Banka – Driven by accelerated digitisation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 VUB announced it had reached two important milestones in online banking. First was reaching half a million active clients in mobile and internet banking clients (logging more than once a month) and second was that 900,000 clients had access to online banking. During 2020, VUB enhanced its mobile banking app with a direct call option to its call centre and sharing of PDF invoices and QR codes directly in the app. Virtual banking channels were improved via mobile/internet banking to aid customer onboarding and service.

During 2020 VUB continued with support of Apple Pay and Google Pay by adding more cards into the platforms, and became the first on the Slovak market with in-app provisioning for all retail cards via its mobile banking app. In payment cards, the number of cash withdrawals dropped by 22.6% and volumes dropped by 12.3% from 2019. Card payments grew slightly despite the pandemic with a 2% increase in number of transactions and a 7% increase in volumes.

In the last quarter of 2020, VUB’s efforts were focused on changes in 3D Secure authentication as a legal requirement of EU PSD2 regulation. VUB launched authentication of card internet payments via biometrics in its mobile banking app. As of December 2023, VUB continued to develop its electronic banking and digital channels, reaching nearly 1.2 million active clients in its online banking platform. VUB also enhanced its mobile banking app with the ability to authorise payments via automatic redirection from the web to the app. It also introduced the Payme option to generate payment links, which customers can share via SMS, chat or e-mail. In 2023, VUB implemented new online banking and brand-new mobile banking app and added new functions such as possibility to log in via electronic ID and several other functionalities.

365.bank – during 2021, 365.bank established the Innohub innovation centre, which aims to support and develop technologies, innovations, customer experience, and partner digital solutions. The ambition of 365.bank within Innohub is to create and transition to a new digital banking infrastructure in the cloud. The bank has therefore entered partnerships with prestigious foreign suppliers of digital banking platforms such as Mambu, Backbase and Amazon Web Services. New products have also been added to the portfolio of the subsidiary Ahoj, which deals with consumer finance. It was the first company in Slovakia to introduce a method of payment online using the buy-now-pay-later method.

In February 2022, 365 launched a campaign on the need to talk to children about money and thus continued its activities in the field of financial literacy, linking it to the first children’s SMARTIE mobile application with a payment card and a bracelet, which supports children’s active handling of money. In March 2022, 365.bank introduced facial biometrics into the current onboarding process, i.e. account creation via mobile phone and verifying the client’s identity. Facial biometrics uses the uniqueness of the human face and can reliably verify the identity of users by comparing dozens of points. In June 2022, by updating its application, the bank expanded its digital product portfolio by investing in mutual funds. In addition to more conservative bond solutions, the Bank also offered new trends for dynamic investors in an ecological and blockchain fund. In 2023, 365.bank has expanded its current offer of mobile and watch payments with new payment methods. During the year, it launched new forms of smart payments by ring, bracelet, key chain or even analogue watch.

Prima Banka – Prima Bank’s mobile app Wallet increased its number of users in 2021, with the number of clients logged in to the mobile application increasing by 20%, and the volume of funds in customer current accounts increased by 18% from 2020. In 2023, Prima Bank reported a significant increase in the number of users of its mobile app. However, the bank did not disclose the exact percentage of the increase.

In payment services, more than 98% of all transactions were made through electronic channels in 2021. In 2021, Prima Banka expanded the ability to use other mobile wallets such as Garmin Pay and Xiaomi Pay. At the same time, the already implemented Google Pay and Apple Pay enjoyed significant interest and the number of clients using mobile payments increased by 86% year-on-year. In 2023, the bank reported that the number of clients regularly using mobile payments increased by 43% compared to 2022.

About Open API Standards

In June 2017, the Berlin Group, the European payments interoperability coalition of banks and payment processors with membership comprising bank-backed ACHs and industry bodies, announced it would push a single standard for API access to bank accounts (XS2A) compliant with the PSD2 regulation.

The Berlin Group says its NextGenPSD2 Initiative provides a harmonised API standard for accessing bank accounts. Built as an ‘Access to Account Framework’, The Berlin Group says the standard offers operational rules and implementation guidelines with detailed data definitions, message modelling and information flows based on RESTful API methodology.

As of the beginning of 2021, the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 was implemented in all EU countries, in several non-EU countries in Europe and in countries outside Europe who are focused on maintaining reachability and compatibility with the European market. Around 80% of European banks and hundreds of third-party providers (TPPs) have implemented the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework. In 2021, the group was migrated to the Open Finance task force to explore use cases of Open Banking schemes and Open Finance schemes.

Among others, European Open API sets include Open Banking UK, Swiss Corporate API, and STET Open API (F, B).

During 2020, Tatra Bank launched the PSD2 Aggregation project for including accounts from other banks in Internet BankingTB and the development of Premium APITB to provide account information to corporate clients.

Prima Banka also implemented all legislative requirements related to PSD2 at the end of 2020 for strong authentication of payments completed using payment cards online.

The accounts of four Slovak banks were added to the CSOB MultiBanking service in 2020. As a result, the CSOB SmartBanking application allowed transactions to be viewed on all accounts from a single spot. The CSOB SmartBanking application expanded its portfolio of digitally available products to include SmartSlužby+, with this new feature, it is possible to purchase public transport tickets in the Bratislava self-governing region.

The NBS reported that in 2021 there had been a qualitative improvement in the dedicated interfaces through which third parties could access bank payment accounts in order to provide payment services. As of 2023, there were seven Open Banking banks and account providers, 2 third-party providers, 22 bank APIs and 20 API aggregators.

Payment Services

In Slovakia, the law on payment services adopted the EU payment services directive (PSD) and the EU interchange fee regulation (IFR). Slovakia has also adopted the PSD2 – effective from January 2018.

In 2024, the more than 300 different payment services offered in Europe can be grouped into:

Card Brands and Card Types

At present, there is no national debit card scheme in Slovakia. and all retail banks issue debit cards and credit cards with Mastercard or VISA brands.

Slovakian card products like consumer cards, commercial cards and purchasing cards range from classic cards to gold cards and to platinum cards. Additional card features (e.g. picture cards, bonus points, PIN selection at ATMs, cashback, card control by SMS notification and geo blocking) are used to attract cardholders. Also, individual picture cards and collector cards are issued on demand.

From 2014, many Slovak banks place the IBAN code on new and renewed payment cards. The EMV migration of cards achieved 96.0% at end-2011 and was completed in 2012.

From July 2023, banks and other card issuers will no longer issue Maestro cards. Instead, they will need to issue Debit Mastercard. Maestro was launched in 1991 and was the world’s first debit card that could be used via an online network. About 400 million Maestro cards are in circulation worldwide, mainly across Europe. However, Maestro is not enabled for the demands of e-commerce and cannot be used for online or in-app payments, hence the decision to phase it out in favour of Mastercard Debit products. Visa announced that Electron cards will be phased out globally in 2024. The features of the Visa Debit card have been modified to match the features of the Visa Electron card.

In June 2022, Diners Club announced it was exiting Slovakia, along with the Czech Republic and Poland, followed by Austria in 2023.

Prima Banka reported that in 2021, Debit Mastercard payment cards were gradually replacing the Maestro electronic card, enabling customers to make more payments online and in accordance with the requirements of PSD2. During 2021, Tatra Banka terminated the issuance of Visa Electron debit cards, which are being gradually replaced after their original expiration date with Visa debit cards.

Debit cards issued are Debit Mastercard or VISA Debit cards. There are no V PAY cards in issue.

Credit Cards issued are cards branded VISA and Mastercard. There are no JCB cards in issue.

Prepaid Cards – Most Slovak retail banks issue prepaid cards, since 2008, and virtual cards for internet use.

Co-branded cards – In Slovakia, co-branded card products are declining in usage and in circulation. Co-branded cards were typically based on the international card brands Mastercard, VISA, Maestro or Electron.

Slovak banks which issued co-branded cards together with their non-bank partners included SLSP, VUB, Tatra Banka, CSOB, UniCredit branch Slovakia, Diners Club SK and others. Slovak banks also issue private label store cards on behalf of retailers, petrol companies and other non-banks.

Co-brand partners included mostly retailers, and mobile network operators.

Contactless Cards and form-factors

Slovakia is a showcase market for the adoption of contactless technology. From 2011, most Slovakian cards were issued with added contactless PayPass or payWave function.

According to Mastercard, Slovakia is one of 10 European countries where over 80% of non-cash payments are contactless. Almost 99% of POS terminals in Slovakia are contactless.

According to the NBS, usage of payment cards changed in 2020 owing to the impact of pandemic-related lockdowns and business closures. This was seen in the second and fourth quarters of the year, when the value of card payments surpassed the value of ATM withdrawals. This represented a significant shift in cardholder behaviour, with cards being used more for contactless merchant payments than for ATM withdrawals. This trend also appeared in the total value of transactions in 2020.

In 2021, the NBS reported that 71.6 million contactless transactions had been made during the year, predominantly with VISA and Mastercard cards.

In 2019 the majority of banks in Slovakia made the digital wallet platforms Google Pay and Apple Pay available to holders of their Mastercard and Visa cards, and some banks also started supporting the smartwatch apps Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay. Since then, the domestic issuers of these cards have recorded a significant increase in the number of value of transactions made through these applications. In 2023, their number increased to more than 259.4 million, and their value rose to almost €5,632 million. Compared with 2022, both the number (+63%) and value (+62%) grew significantly. Cardholders tend to use mobile payments for lower-value transactions. In 2023, the largest increases in the number and value of payment transactions were recorded by mobile payments (through the applications Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay, FitBit Pay and others.) Their share of all card payments continued to grow in 2023, and by the end of the year, 29.6% of card payments, i.e. almost 1 in every 3, were made using mobile or smartwatch apps.

During 2023, Tatra Banka clients showed increasing interest in cash withdrawals with a smartphone. More than 1.58 million withdrawals were made in this way, totalling €187.8 million. The number of withdrawals with a smartphone accounted for 12.4% of the total withdrawals.

At the end of 2023, Tatra Banka had 26,415 active POS terminals, almost all of which supported contactless payments. As of 2023, the share of contactless transactions on Tatra Banka’s POS terminals was more than 96%. Alternative payment methods (smartphones and wearables) comprised about 31% of all payments on POS terminals.

Predefined contactless limits – Contactless payments of purchase amounts below a predefined contactless limit are without PIN or signature and without transaction receipt. In Slovakia, the contactless limit for payments without PIN/signature was set at €20 for cards with PayPass or payWave function. Larger transactions are accepted, provided a PIN code is entered. In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the contactless limit was raised to €50 to encourage more non-cash transactions.

Interchange Fee Arrangements

International and Intra European Non-EEA Interchange Fees are set by the members of the international card schemes to be applied in case of cross-border transactions or foreign cards used in Slovakia, respectively. The effective rates of Mastercard and VISA can be found on the respective Mastercard and VISA websites.

In Slovakia, domestic Merchant Interchange Fee (DMIF) rates for Slovak cards is defined by Mastercard and VISA, respectively. The interchange fee regulation 2015/751/EU applies for the Slovak card business.

The interchange fees for domestic card-based payment transactions on consumer cards is capped as follows:

American Express – As a result of the EU regulation of interchange fees (IFR), American Express elected to exit all of its bank licensing arrangements in the European Union. This means that they have terminated all licenses with its existing EU partners, stopped issuing new cards and are in the final stages of the process of closing down all operations directly related to bank licensing. Over the course of 2019, American Express credit cards issued under independent operator agreements were rendered invalid in all countries of the European Union. Various banks that have up to now had exclusive licensing contracts with American Express have already responded accordingly and provided their clients with the opportunity to switch to other card brands.

From 2020, American Express Payments Europe is now the sole issuer and acquirer of American Express cards in Europe, including Slovakia. However, American Express Payments Europe continues its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of American Express cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

E-Money 

In Slovakia, the law on e-money services has adopted the e-money directive of the EU (EMD).

In 2023, one electronic money institution was present in the country with the authorisation of the NBS, unchanged from 2022.

Additionally, software-based e-money e-/m-wallet services are offered by 234 international payment service providers and online wallet issuers from the EEA region. They provided notification of operating in Slovakia under the EU passport system.

Prepaid Products – paysafecard (A) entered Slovakia and launched its prepaid product, paysafecard.

Digital Account-to-Account Payment Services 

In the Yearbooks, account-based payment services are classified as IBAN-based payment services in SCT/SDD format offered by banks or by independent payment initiation service providers (PISP).

Credit transfers are used for both high-value corporate and low-value retail payment transactions. They can be paper-based or automated. Electronic credit transfers are used by companies for salary and supplier payments. Paper-based credit transfers are commonly used for non-recurring retail payments.

On 1 February 2014, SEPA credit transfers replaced all previous credit transfer schemes in Slovakia. All banks in Slovakia participate in the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) scheme.

Direct debits are used for low-value recurring payments such as utility bills and for one-off payments (e.g. to settle card payments). On 1 February 2014, SEPA credit transfers (SCT) replaced all previous credit transfer schemes in Slovakia.

Instant payments (SCTINST) is the IBAN-based immediate payment scheme in Europe, officially launched in November 2017. It makes funds immediately available to the beneficiary – compliant with existing SCT infrastructure. The regulators will require all banks to offer Instant Payments from 2018.

Among others, the characteristics of SCTINST include an initial maximum of €15,000 with the funds made available on the beneficiary’s account in less than ten seconds, 24/7/365 real-time processing, and immediate refunds in the case that the SCTINST payment was not successful. From July 2020, the maximum amount for instant payments will be €100,000.

Chaired by the ECB, in 2014, the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) identified the need for a pan-European instant euro payment solution. In April 2016, EBA Clearing started the SCTINST project with more than 40 large European banks involved. In November 2016, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the SCTINST scheme and SCTINST rule books version 1.0 while the ERPB provided the governance model. In November 2017, EBA Clearing completed the pan-European instant payments infrastructure, RT1.

SEPA credit transfers and direct debits can be settled on a same-day or next-day basis. In 2023, about 50% of all IBAN-based payments in Europe were processed intra-day, or even immediately inside of the same bank group. Potential first use cases for SCTINST in Slovakia may include P2P, mobile banking apps, online payments, and B2B.

As of May 2024, 2,295 banks from 36 European countries had registered for the SCTINST scheme. This represents 63% of all SCT scheme participants

In many European countries, bank transfers have been adopted for online payments, enabling consumers to pay direct from their bank account as an alternative service to payment cards.

Foreign payment initiation service providers (PISPs) offering cross-border online credit transfers in the country include Klarna (S) and Przelewy24 (PL).

In 2023, NBS reported one Account Information Service Provider (AISP) licensed in Slovakia. Authorised in another EEA member state, 25 cross-border AISPs have provided notification of operating in Slovakia under the EU passport system.

Advanced Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.

In selected Slovak online shops, the wallets PayPal and Skrill are offered as payment means.

PayPal – PayPal is in use in Slovakia. As of end-2023, PayPal reported more than 431 million active customer accounts globally, down 0.91% from 435 million in 2022.  During 2022, PayPal added approximately 8.6 million net new active accounts, ending the year with 435 million active consumer and merchant accounts. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.52 trillion in 2023 (up 11.7% from $1.36 trillion in 2022) and customer engagement grew to an average of 58 transactions per active account, driving 13% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2023.

During 2020, with consumers worldwide embracing digital wallet capabilities, the company launched several related services including QR Code Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto purchasing and Xoom direct transfers to bank accounts and debit cards.

In June 2018, PayPal continued its shopping spree with a $400 million cash deal to acquire e-commerce platform Hyperwallet. The acquisition followed deals to buy Venmo, Xoom, Sweden’s iZettle (renamed Zettle) for $2.2 billion and AI-based merchant marketing outfit Jetlore, as Paypal bids to extend its reach to all corners of the payments market.

In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.

In 2023, PayPal is exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut costs and focus on high-growth business areas. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.

In 2023, PayPal launched its own US dollar-denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.

In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalised offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations, and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalized cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.

In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.

Amazon Pay – In 2016, Amazon (US) launched its checkout payment service, Amazon Pay, enabling customers to pay for goods and services in participating third-party merchant websites. All active Amazon account holders can use Amazon login and password at the checkout. More than 50 million customers have used Amazon Pay to make purchases globally, with more than half of these coming from Amazon Prime Members.

Digital Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in the case of contactless payments at POS terminals.

In December 2015, Mastercard in partnership with CSOB has launched its digital wallet, MasterPass, in the Slovak market. Effective 2019, PayU has enabled the digital wallet VISA Checkout for e-commerce in Slovakia, and Stripe has enabled both wallets for online use in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

As of mid-2024, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service was available, replacing the previous MasterPass and VISA Checkout services respectively. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.

Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay (previously Android Pay) made by foreign users at contactless POS terminals in Slovakia are processed as payments on contactless cards.

Global contactless transaction values will reach $10 trillion by 2027, up from $4.6 trillion in 2022, with contactless mobile and wearable payments expected to grow by 221% and contactless card payments by 119% over the same period.

Contactless ticketing spend will increase by more than 440% globally between 2022 and 2027, with growing prominence and support for OEM pay solutions, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay being a key enabler for mobile NFC ticketing across many markets.

Overall growth in contactless transaction values will be catalysed by growing mobile payments adoption, with 99% of all smartphones capable of making contactless payments by 2027, up from 94% today, and average transaction values for Apple Pay reaching $28.20 and $33.40 for Google Pay.

Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2022. By 2024, the total number of Apple Pay users was estimated at 640 million and is projected to exceed 700 million by 2027,

According to Apple’s Q2 last 2022, they saw a record of transactions with more than 1.8 billion processed during the quarter, up 40% year-over-year. This payment method is also available in over 90% of the US and 60% of stores globally.

Apple Pay is the #1 most popular digital wallet with a 92% market share, processing a global total of $6 trillion in payments in 2022 and produced a revenue of $1.9 billion.

As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 3.5% of all in-store purchases.

Around 51% of global iPhone users have enabled Apple Pay in 2022. There are 10 million Apple Pay-friendly contactless payment terminals worldwide.

The transactions made using Apple Pay are mostly in-store purchases, online transactions, and peer-to-peer payments. It is trendy for contactless payments, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2024, an estimated 60.2 million Apple Pay users in the United States; projections indicate that over 75 million consumers will use Apple Pay by 2030. Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.

In 2019, Apple launched Apple Pay in Slovakia. As of November-2024, Apple Pay was supported by 43 banks and payment providers.

Google Pay has 150 million users across 42 global markets.

In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated it with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains as “Google Pay.”

In the US, Google Pay has over 25.2 million users.  Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor.

Slovakia was the first country in Europe to roll out Google Pay in 2018 and as of November 2024, was supported by 50 banks and payment providers.

Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 140 million users. Samsung Pay works with Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22. Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe and EMV (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards.

In May 2020, Samsung Pay unveiled Samsung Money by SoFi, a mobile-first money management experience that makes available a cash management account and accompanying Mastercard debit card via the Samsung Pay app, in partnership with fintech company SoFi.

In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets, and digital keys within the Wallet app.

Samsung Pay was set to launch in Slovakia in 2021 but has not been launched at time of publication.

Overview of Cashless Payments

In 2023, card payments accounted for 64.95% of all cashless payments compared to 62.34% in the EU. Credit transfers (32.89%) are the dominant cashless payment instrument in Slovakia after card payments. Direct debit usage (2.16%) continued to decline and plays a niche role.

In 2023, there was a high level of 277.1 cashless payments per capita, up 10.52% from 2022. They were composed of 180.0 card payments per capita, 91.1 credit transfers per capita, and 6.0 direct debits per capita.

Cheque use is in terminal decline in Slovakia. They are exchanged and cleared bilaterally between banks.

2 – Cashless Payments in Slovakia

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Note: e-money included in card payments.
Note: totals include payments by ‘other payment services’ i.e. book-entry transactions.
Source: ECB, NBS.

Exchange Rates

Slovakia joined the euro system on 1 January 2009 at a conversion rate of SKK 30.126, becoming the second CEE country, after Slovenia, to do so.

Market Infrastructure

Since 2009 NBS has been operating the TARGET2 component system known as TARGET2-SK (T2-SK), the Eurosystem’s real-time gross settlement system for the euro. The first-generation TARGET system was replaced by TARGET2 in May 2008.

Apart from TARGET2, there are 2 other components of the Eurosystem’s Target Services: TARGET2-Securities (T2S) and TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS).

During 2021, 3 Slovak banks (Slovenská sporiteľňa, VÚB, and Tatra banka) were preparing to join the TIPS service. These banks have signed up to the National plan for the implementation of instant payments in the Slovak Republic, which set the launch date for instant payments for February 2022. Work on the T2/T2S consolidation project continued within the Eurosystem in 2021. The launch of the new consolidated platform was scheduled for 21 November 2022. The T2-T2S consolidation project went live in March 2023 after several years of preparation. The project consolidated the technical and functional aspects of TARGET2 AND TARGET2-Securities (T2S) and replaced the TARGET2 real-time gross settlement system with a new TARGET system.

In 2023, there were 166,253 TARGET2-SK transactions. TARGET2-SK had 37 participants at the end of 2022. They comprised 33 direct participants and 4 ancillary systems, namely the Slovak Interbank Payment System, SIA Slovakia, and 2 central securities depositories (CSDs). Two entities joined the system as direct participants in 2021 and three left it. The new arrivals were Moneta Money Bank and PKO, a foreign bank branch.

The Slovak Interbank Payment System (SIPS) is a retail payment system which processes domestic and cross-border SEPA credit transfers (SCTs) and SEPA direct debits (SDDs).

In 2023, SIPS processed more than 273 million transactions almost 2% higher compared with 2022. The total value of SIPS transactions dropped by around 0.5%, to €380.98 billion in 2023. In 2021 SIPS underwent modifications following the annual release of the functional version of STEP2. The NBS also continued making adjustments to SIPS in relation to the T2/T2S consolidation project (with the consolidated platform due to be launched in 2022). Domestic transactions accounted for 90.5% of the total number of SIPS transactions and for 69% of their total value. As for cross-border transactions, their share of the total number of transactions increased by 0.5%, to 9.5%, and their share of the total value rose by 1%, to 31%.

In the breakdown of SEPA transactions by payment instrument, SEPA credit transfers continued to predominate in terms of both number (94%) and value (99%) with these shares being virtually unchanged from 2022. In the SEPA direct debit (SDD) scheme, creditors (payees) must have a Creditor Identifier. By the end of 2023, the NBS had issued a total of 614 Creditor Identifiers to SDD creditors (natural or legal persons).

ZBK – Bank Cards Association

ZBK (Zdruzenie pre bankove karty), the Slovak Bank Cards Association, manages the national ATM and POS network. In mid-2024, ZBK had 10 bank members: 365.bank, BNP Paribas, CSOB, mBank, Prima Banka, Privatbanka, Slovenska Sporitelna, Tatra Banka, UniCredit branch Slovakia and VUB.

Card Issuers – Overview

Slovak banks issue credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in combination with bank accounts. Addressing the specific needs of personal banking and business banking, the card portfolio is composed of consumer cards, business cards and corporate cards.

Dedicated card products are offered for the individual client segments: families, millennials, students, affluent clients, small business clients, corporate clients and even basic account clients. The credit cards offered range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards.

Slovak retail banks issue contactless debit cards (Maestro, Electron), contactless credit cards (Mastercard, VISA) and prepaid cards. The five biggest banks represent up to 85% of cards issued.

The leading issuers are Tatra Banka, SLSP, and VUB followed by CSOB SR. Other major card issuers include 365.bank and UniCredit branch Slovakia. Diners Club CS issue cards. Due to a change in its business model, American Express Payments Europe is now the American Express card issuer itself, instead of VUB.

Table 3 illustrates the card brands issued by the leading Slovakian card issuers as of mid-2024.

3 – Leading Card Issuers in Slovakia

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Note: Slovak banks issue Mastercard/VISA cards as credit cards and as debit cards.
Source: PCM research.

Outlook – By mid-2024, Slovak card issuers face the following notable challenges:

Card Processors and PSPs

In Europe, the payment processing industry is composed of card processors, ATM/POS network hub processors, e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs), and specialised processors (e.g. CSM processors, TSM services).

In Slovakia, card issuer processing services range from technical issuer processing, including card printing, to full cardholder processing services. They include all types of cards and card technologies allowing for card use in multi-channels (i.e. at ATMs, POS terminals, on the internet and in-store mobile payments in the future).

Acquirer processing services in the country range from technical acquirer processing, including POS terminal services, to full merchant processing services. Usually, ATM/POS network processing is part of acquirer processing while payments on the internet are routed by specialised e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs) to the card acquirers and independent payment service providers (e.g. FinTechs like PayPal), respectively.

SLSP and Citibank operate their issuer processing in-house, based on own bank IT systems. In 2016, SLSP transferred its acquirer processing to the new established joint venture Global Payments s.r.o.

In 2007, Tatra Banka outsourced its in-house processing centre as ‘RPC’ company (see below). The former interbank organisation ACS (now: First Data Slovakia) had supported the other Slovak banks.

Visa and Mastercard payment transactions are cleared by First Data Slovakia, before the net balances of each participant are submitted to the NBS for final settlement. Other credit card payments can be cleared by their respective international card schemes.

First Data Slovakia absorbed by SIA – ACS, the former Authorisation Centre of Slovakia, was established after the break-up of Czechoslovakia in June 1994 when the Slovak banks purchased ‘enterprise INESCO’, the Slovak part of MUZO. ACS was later renamed Transacty and was 68%-owned by Norwegian telecoms company Telenor until January 2004, when the controlling stake was sold to Oslo-based EuroProcessing International (EPI), with local banks holding the balance. In July 2005, EPI was acquired by First Data (US) and Transacty became known as First Data Slovakia.

In May 2018, Italian processor SIA and First Data (US) signed an agreement for SIA to acquire First Data’s card processing businesses in parts of Central and South-eastern Europe for €387 million. In July 2019, Fiserv completed the purchase of First Data for $22 billion in an all-stock transaction.

In October 2020, Italian processor Nexi announced its intention to acquire SIA in a deal worth an estimated €5.3 billion. The deal was completed in December 2021 following receipt of regulatory approvals. The new group will be the largest group in Europe for the number of merchants served (2 million), number of cards (120 million), and number of transactions executed each year (21 billion).

Regional Processing Centre (RPC) – Tatra Banka had operated a regional card processing centre RPC which, in addition to its operations in Slovakia, served as a platform for card issuer processing for Raiffeisen banks in other countries – Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Kosovo, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. In June 2009, Tatra sold its 100% interest in the processing centre to Raiffeisen Bank International for €12 million. In 2015, RPC started card processing for Raiffeisen cards in Austria.

As of 2022, RPC processed almost 6.9 million debit and credit cards for banks in nine countries (Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Kosovo) within the RBI Group.

In 2023, RPC processed almost 1.9 billion transactions, a year-on-year increase of 26%, of which 851 million transactions were made by debit card (+40%) and 173 million by credit card (+14%). In addition, RPC processed another 333 million transactions via the Raiffeisen Bank S.A DC Gateway. 516 million transactions were executed via POS terminals, a year-on-year increase of 12% which was primarily driven by the new portfolio of customer, REWE. At the end of 2023, RPC managed more than 7.8 million payment cards, a year-on-year increase of more than 12.6% due to Credit Agricole Bank migration in Serbia and Equa bank migration in the Czech Republic from 2022. Of the total, 5.9 million (75.7%) were debit cards and 1.9 million (24.3%) were credit cards. The total number of POS terminals managed by RPC at the end of 2023 increased to almost 130,000. This was a 25% increase compared with 2022, which was due to the company adding to its portfolio in Slovakia and Raiffeisen Payment Solutions.

Online Payment Service Processors (PSPs) 

Online payment service processors (PSPs) are specialised technical processors for all kind of secure online payments and mobile payments. Some of them also offer virtual PSP platform services (VPSP) for bank acquirers who want to take advantage of a kind of ‘internet network processor’.

Online shops of merchants are directly connected by an API interface or a hosted payment page either to the internet payment gateway of a bank acquirer, or they are connected to multi-acquirers through a PSP.

PSPs usually partner with more than one card acquirer and payment initiation service providers. Core services offered by PSPs may include payment gateways to card acquirers and other online payment service providers, online payment processing, risk management services, and collection services for merchants.

Security technologies applied to ensure secure online card payments include EMV tokenisation and strong 3D-Secure (MCSC, VbV, SafeKey) combined with one-time tokens. For card-less payment services, the security technologies applied include userID/password combined with one-time tokens and online banking access with one-time TAN.

Online merchants are serviced on demand by their acquirers and few PSPs. Leading PSPs in Slovakia include Fiserv, CardPay (Tatra Banka), TrustPay, PayU, and GP Webpay (CZ).

Additionally, Slovak online merchants are serviced by the Slovak PSPs and bank acquirers and by foreign PSPs such as:

TrustPay is a PSP and acquirer based in Slovakia and is a licensed payment institution providing secure card payments and instant bank transfers via its membership of Swift, VISA and Mastercard. In March 2015, TrustPay partnered with the ONPEX acquiring network to grow its customer base.

Acquiring and Acceptance

In Europe, most acquirers offer multi-channel card acceptance and value-added merchant services at POS terminals, mobile MPOS terminals and online shops. The leading acquirers usually act on a European level and offer their services cross-border.

Additionally, innovative acquirers also offer the acceptance of card-less payment services based on partner agreements with the issuer of those payment services (e.g. account-based payments, wallets, prepaid products).

Most acquirers either operate their own acquirer systems and ATM/POS/MPOS network service hubs, or they use the processing services of external processors. In order to service online merchants in Europe, they may operate their own PSP processing platforms, or they co-operate with one or more specialised online payment service processors (PSPs).

From 2009, European acquirers compete in their home markets, cross-border on a European level, and cross-channel at POS terminals and servicing online merchants. From 2016, innovative acquirers started to offer omni-channel and multi-payment acceptance.

By mid-2024, omni-channel acceptance includes the ability to service all channels (i.e. POS/MPOS terminals, mobile in-store, online shops, in-app), and to accept multiple payments means in all of these channels. Multi-payment services demanded by merchants include cards, IBAN-based payments (SCT, SDD), online wallets, digital wallets, prepaid products, and immediate payments.

Outlook – By mid-2024, Slovak acquirers face the following notable challenges:

Most Slovak retail banks are both issuers and acquirers. The leading acquirers are Tatra Banka, VUB Banka, and Global Payments s.r.o. (previously the acquirer unit of SLSP), followed by CSOB SR. These four acquirers and UniCredit Bank accept V PAY card transactions. Four entities acquire JCB cards. In June 2019, Global Payments took over the acquiring of American Express transactions from VUB and now provides processing and services for AmEx-accepting clients. Diners Club SK (owned by Austrian DC Bank, a 100% subsidiary of UniCredit Bank Austria) accepts Diners cards. Both Diners and American Express have acceptance partner agreements in place with other Slovak banks.

Only in a few cases, separate acceptance contracts with more than one acquirer are practised for obvious business reasons demanded by merchants. UnionPay acceptance in Slovakia is limited to around 10,000 of the more than 58,000 acceptance locations and is managed by Worldline SIX Payment Services. As of 2023, there is no public statement of a comprehensive acquiring deal between UnionPay and a major Slovak bank. Table 4 illustrates the card brands accepted by individual acquirer active in Slovakia as at mid-2024.

4 – Leading Acquirers in Slovakia

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Note: cross-border acquirer Worldline SIX Payment Services acquires UnionPay and JCB. Wirecard also acquires UnionPay.
Note: accepted card brands include Debit Mastercard and VISA Debit, respectively.
Source: PCM research

Tatra Banka – Tatra Banka’s business partners generated a turnover of €5.934 billion on POS terminals with a total of more than 219.4 million transactions in 2023. In 2023, 30.4 million transactions totalling €1.025 billion were made using CardPay and ComfortPay. The number of payment transactions over the internet increased by 14.3% compared to 2022. As of 2023, Tatra Banka had 26,415 active POS terminals, almost all of which supported contactless payments.

Global Payments s.r.o. – In July 2015, Global Payments (US), CaixaBank (E), and Erste Group Bank (A) announced an agreement to form a joint venture to provide merchant acquiring and payment services in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania that included the acquiring business of Slovenská sporiteľňa.

Global Payments and CaixaBank paid €30 million in cash to acquire a 51% majority ownership in the venture. Erste Group contributed its existing merchant-acquiring businesses in each of the three countries to the joint venture and holds a 49% interest. The transaction was closed in June 2016. The joint venture offers acquiring services under the brand Global Payments.

In August 2022, Global Payments announced its acquisition of EVO Payments, in a move aimed at increasing Global Payments’ target addressable markets, expanding its presence in new and existing faster-growth geographies, and augmenting its B2B software and payment solutions with the addition of accounts receivable software with broad third-party acceptance. The combined entity will have 4.5 million merchant locations and more than 1,500 financial institutions worldwide. The transaction will expand Global Payments’ geographic footprint into new geographies such as Poland, Germany, Chile, and upon closing, Greece, as well as enhance its scale in existing markets, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Ireland, and the UK. The transaction is expected to close no later than Q1 2023.

Payment Institutions in Slovakia

As at end-2023, there were 10 payment institutions (PI) operating in the Slovak financial market, down from 11 in 2022. The Slovak PIs include Global Payments, BLIK SK, Unifiedpost, HomeCredit, TrustPay, 24-pay, Besteron, PayOut, Ultima Payments and Usability Engineering Center.

Authorised in another EEA member state, additionally, a total of 310 cross-border payment institutions in 2023 (2022: 282, 2021: 270, 2020: 414, 2019: 367, 2018: 298, 2017: 293, 2016: 289, 2015: 231, 2014: 176, 2013: 156, 2012: 109, 2011: 84) provided notification of operating in Slovakia under the EU passport system. Most of the institutions come from the UK and report payment services taking the form of remittance business. In 2022, 6 of them provided services through a local payment service agent.

ATM Terminal Infrastructure

Slovakia’s ATM networks have grown steadily in recent years. Eight Slovak banks use the Bankomat ATM network, managed by ZBK and processed by SIA directly, and one cryptocurrency operator – Cryptodiggers. Only SLSP operates its own ATM network. The Transacty and SLSP ATM networks were connected in October 1997 to form a common ZBK network (the Bankomat network). Independent white label ATM services are offered by Euronet Worldwide and by SIA. The EMV migration of ATM devices is complete.

Slovak ATM terminals are open for debit cards (Debit Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, VISA Debit, Electron, V PAY, Plus) and credit cards (Mastercard, Mastercard Electronic, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, Pulse and JCB). As of 2019, Euronet ATMs accept China UnionPay cards.

In 2023, there were 3,314 ATMs, down 3.58% from 2022, and 79.05 million cash withdrawals (+1.73%) with a total value of €20.74 billion (+3.55% from 2022). There were 1,987.7 withdrawals per ATM per month, and the ATV per cash withdrawal accounted for €252.28.

5 – ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in Slovakia

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Source: ECB, NBS.

The NBS reported that in 2021 the value of payments made by payment cards issued by Slovak banks exceeded the value of ATM withdrawals made with these cards. This was in line with the marked shift in cardholder behaviour observed in the previous year, when cardholders were to a greater extent using cards for payments at brick-and-mortar merchants. As a result of the decreasing need for cash, the number of ATM withdrawals fell in 2021. On the other hand, the total value of withdrawals increased. In other words, cardholders were withdrawing cash from ATMs less frequently but in higher amounts. This trend in ATM withdrawals was not sustained in 2023 as the number (+1.73%) and value (+3.55%) of ATM withdrawals increased year-on-year, albeit at different paces. This was mostly driven by withdrawals on domestic cards.

In 2023, the NBS reported that the dominant position of payment cards in the Slovak payments market became even more pronounced. The market share of VISA cards increased to 75%, at the expense of the share of Mastercard cards which dropped to 25%. Of the total number of transactions made with payment cards issued by Slovak banks, 85% were domestic. Cards were used mostly for merchant payments, which as a share of all payment card transactions, increased in both number and value (to 93% and 57% respectively) at the expense of the share of ATM cash withdrawals. As in 2022, the value of payments made by domestically issued bank payment cards exceeded the value of ATM withdrawals made with these cards, and the gap between the two increased steadily throughout 2023.

Among individual banks, SLSP had 754 ATMs in its network at end-2023. In 2021, SLSP accelerated the deployment of ATMs enabling both deposits and withdrawals. By the end of the year, there were already 150 in operation, almost twice as many as at the start of 2021, when there were 80 in operation. By 2023, the number of ATMs with a deposit function increased to 221. The number of cash deposits made by self-service facilities grew by 51%, with the volume of deposits growing even more, by 54% in 2022.

In 2023, VUB ranked second with 554 ATMs, giving it a market share of 20.0%. It reported 129 ATMs with cash deposit modules, an increase of 13 ATMs in 2023. ATM withdrawal transaction volumes remained at the same level as 2022 as the number of transactions increased by 4%. This change was caused by clients’ interest in making purchases by card payments instead of physical cash. The volume of cash deposited through ATMs increased by 20% in 2023.

As of 2023, Tatra Banka operated 361 ATMs of which 115 were cash dispensers and 246 were recycling ATM 2.0s. Throughout the year, cash dispensing ATMs were replaced with recycling ATM 2.0s with 41 new recycling additions into the network. In addition to standard ATM functions, such as cash withdrawal with a payment card or mobile phone, ATM 2.0s also offer cash deposits to any euro currency account with Tatra Banka or Raiffeisen Bank by entering the account number or by selecting the last accounts to which the client made deposits, by scanning a QR code with the account number, or by using the Pay By Square option and scanning the code from invoices. During 2023, the bank worked on a project to allow Raiffeisen Bank clients to use Tatra Banka ATMs with the same range of services as they are used to in Raiffeisen Bank’s automatic safes.

In 2023, a total of more than 12.77 million cash withdrawals of almost €4.85 billion (+4.1% vs 2022) were made via Tatra Banka’s ATMs. Clients made over 3.74 million deposits with a value exceeding €3.39 billion in 2023.

Cash-advance Services in Slovakia – Competition for ATMs 

In an Open Banking ecosystem, the dominant role of ATMs for cash withdrawal services may decline as more cash-advance and cash handling services are offered at retail outlets in Europe.

Cash in-Store – In parallel to ATM cash withdrawals on cards, the Slovakia banks support cash-advance services on cards at POS terminals in retail outlets (see below).

POS Terminal Infrastructure 

Slovakia’s POS networks have grown significantly in recent years. Nine Slovak banks use the POS network managed by ZBK and processed by SIA directly. Only SLSP operates its own POS network. Both POS networks are part of the common ZBK network (the Bankomat network). The EMV migration of POS terminals is complete.

Accepted card brands at most Slovak POS terminals are debit cards (Debit Mastercard, Maestro, VISA Electron, and V Pay) and credit cards (Mastercard, Mastercard Electronic, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover and JCB). Since 2011, selected merchants have accepted UnionPay cards at locations frequented by tourists.

In 2023, there were 101,029 terminals of which all were EFTPOS terminals (+0.02% from 2022). In 2023, there were 6,730 (+3% terminals from 2022) domestically based merchants that accepted online card payments.

According to the NBS, POS/e-commerce payments accounted for 93% of the total number of transactions and 57% of the total value in 2023.

Contactless POS terminals – According to NBS, Slovakia has one of the highest contactless terminal proportion in Europe. At end-2023, 100% of the total number of POS terminals were contactless devices.

In 2023, there were 763.16 million POS payments (+17.62%) with a total value of €18.43 billion (+13.73% from 2022). There were 629.5 payments per POS terminal per month, and the ATV per POS payment accounted for €23.95.

6 – POS Terminals in Slovakia

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Source: ECB, NBS.

In 2016, SLSP sold its POS terminals for €14.5 million to the newly established joint venture of Global Payments (CZ), Comercia (E) and Erste Group (A), Global Payments s.r.o.

At end-2023, the number of Tatra’s active POS terminals was 26,415 (26.15% market share) almost all of which supported contactless cards. In 2021, the Tatra Banka POS app offered corporate clients the ability to accept payments anytime and anywhere through Android phones. The share of contactless transactions on Tatra Banka’s POS terminals was more than 96% in 2023. Alternative payment methods (smartphones and wearables) comprised about 31% of all payments on POS terminals in 2023.

In 2023, VUB installed more than 1,800 new POS terminals to bring its total to 14,524 POS terminals, including virtual terminals used in e-commerce and unattended terminals used at parking kiosks and self-service fuel stations.

Cash-advance services (‘cashback’) are offered at POS terminals in retail locations. In 2023, cashback amounted to 0.35 million cash advances with a total value of €14.1 million. The ATV per cash-advance was €40.66.

7 – Cash-Advances at POS Terminals in Slovakia

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Source: ECB, NBS

MPOS Terminals – Small and mobile merchants have started to use their smartphone and tablet PCs as a kind of mini-POS+ECR device with added chip reader dongle. In late 2012, Square clones like iZettle, SumUp, Miura, and others launched their MPOS services in Europe. It is expected that Slovakian merchants will also demand MPOS terminals. Further, merchants can initiate MOTO like card payments on their smartphones and tablets by downloading a payment app.

In 2014, Tatra Banka launched its MPOS terminal, creating a new and simpler way to pay small entrepreneurs. In March 2016, Spire Payments (UK) and TECS (A) launched MPOS terminal services in Slovakia.

In October 2017, SumUp launched its MPOS terminal service in Slovakia. Small business owners in Slovakia can take card payments with their smartphone and the SumUp Air card reader without any monthly fees or contractual obligations.

SmartPOS Terminals – In 2018, POS terminal vendors launched innovative new types of POS terminals. Named SmartPOS terminals, they combine the electronic cash register functionality (ECR) used by merchants in outlets with a contactless POS payment terminal and merchant services in the cloud. For the very first time, the so far separated ECR devices and POS terminals are integrated in just one checkout solution device. From late 2018, SmartPOS terminal vendors like Castles, Clover, Ingenico, Jusp, Handpoint, PAX, Poynt, Spire Payments, Verifone, Worldline, and others have launched their SmartPOS devices and services in Europe. It is believed that Slovak SME merchants will embrace SmartPOS terminals.

Unikasa Collection System – Citibank Slovakia operated the Unikasa collection system from 1,700 Coop Jednota grocery and general stores throughout Slovakia. Customers could pay public utility bills and insurance premiums and other invoices from 26 companies in 2012, including Allianz and all the major mobile phone network operators. When paying a bill up to €34 the charge was €0.20 for processing, while for more than €34, it was €0.33. In October 2008, Citibank began to roll out cashback of up to SKK 1,500 (€48) at Unikasa outlets, in partnership with VISA Europe.

As of 2019, Unikasa was no longer in operation, due to the growth of other independent electronic billing services.

In October 2022, after completing the sale of its POS division, Worldline announced the closing of the acquisition of 55% of the capital of SoftPos.eu, which transforms Android mobile devices into secure payment terminals. The acquisition is part of Worldline’s strategy to provide payment solutions adapted to all forms of commerce and move towards a more advanced POS terminal business. On the back of SoftPos.eu, Worldline will launch Worldline Tap on Mobile, an end-to-end solution, based on an Android app, allowing all merchants of all sizes to accept payments using a smartphone, tablet, or a professional terminal.

Remote Payments on the Internet – Cards & More

In 2023, Slovakia was a smaller e-commerce market in Europe with an emerging online shopping population. From 2015, due to EU VAT regulation, Slovakian merchants will have to collect the applicable VAT rate for cross-border sales based on the consumers’ residence.

SecuRe Pay – The new European Banking Authority (EBA) guidelines on the security of internet payments (SecuRe Pay) came into effect from 1 August 2015, requiring firms to have certain standards, such as one-time security details, for customers making internet payments. The EBA guidelines were introduced as a stop gap and were superseded by the revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2) which was implemented in Slovakia in 2018.

Internet Use – In 2023, 89% of Slovaks used the internet and 77% of internet users have purchased in online shops in the last 12 months. The percentage of the population using the internet for shopping has grown from 55% in 2013 to 87% in 2023. Smartphone penetration is estimated at 72% of the population. It is noted that 86% of Slovak smartphone users have accessed the internet via mobile devices and 45% of them made online purchases using tablets or smartphones.

Slovak e-commerce has grown by double-digit rates in recent years, with an estimated 18,000 e-shops currently in business as of 2023. According to the Slovakian Bankers Association, there were 6,730 online shops accepting cards in 2023.

In 2023, the total B2C e-commerce purchase value was €1.80 billion, down 0.22% from 2022. The online purchase value per capita amounted to €329.1 while it was €380.4 per online buyer. E-commerce (eGDP) had a 1.44% market share in Slovakian GDP.

8 – Internet Use in Slovakia

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Sources: Eurostat, ITU, PCM research.

Cards on the Internet (CNP) – All cards with international brands are accepted in Slovakian online shops in the case that the merchant has signed an acceptance contract accordingly. In addition, the Slovakian banks issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for internet use only. 3D-Secure technology is recommended when paying online with cards in online shops. Further, web-based mail order services for merchant-initiated payments and Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) are offered.

The e-payment Mix in Slovakia – According to the NBS, a shift in cardholder behaviour was observed in the area of e-commerce payments in 2021, which recorded a year-on-year increase in terms of both their number and value. In 2023, there were 45.6 million e-commerce card payments, for a value of €1.68 billion, up by 16.1% and 17.7% respectively from 2022.

To a much lesser extent, prepaid products (e.g. paysafecard) and online wallets (e.g. PayPal) were used. According to merchants, many online purchases are still initiated by mail order. In the past, Slovakian buyers preferred to pay their online purchases upon delivery. In parallel to online payments on cards, Slovak banks offer their online bank transfer services for payments of online purchases.

The TatraPay internet payment service (credit transfer to a contract merchant’s account) recorded a year-on-year increase of 43% in the number of transactions and 33% growth in the value of transactions in 2023. In total, more than 6.4 million payments with a value of more than €296 million were made using TatraPay.

Remote Payments on the Mobile Internet – Since 2011, online buyers with a high affinity for smartphones have started to use their mobile phones for shopping on the mobile internet. Mobile online shops can be accessed by mobile internet, by mobile app, or by scanning a 2D QR-code displayed in a newspaper or at a bus station. Thus, remote mobile phone payments are executed either by using the e-payment page of the mobile online shop or by using payment apps of a PSP or an acquirer.

Also, Slovakian merchants can download a payment app from their acquirer in order to initiate MOTO payments with cards and/or online direct debits. Leading Slovakian merchants have started testing their own mobile apps including loyalty functions (e.g. e-vouchers, discounts, outlet finder, QR-code scanning).

Mobile Payments – Overview

In 2023, 138% of the Slovaks have subscribed to a mobile phone. Many Slovaks own more than one mobile phone and 72% own a smartphone (from 46% in 2013). Also, the tablet penetration has jumped from a very low level.

Since 2011, the next generation of mobile services and payments has started, pushed by the online buyers’ high affinity to smartphones and tablets and, also, by new disruptive technologies (1D-barcodes, QR-code, Bluetooth BLE and NFC).

Mobile initiatives in Slovakia are field testing and using new technologies either as initiating form factors to bridge to online shops on the internet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, NFC) or to enable contactless access to the retail POS outlet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC Stickers, Mobile NFC Phones) e.g.:

The m-Payment Mix in Slovakia – 

According to the NBS, there were 259.39 million mobile payments in 2023 for a total value of  €5,631.9 million. In 2023, the largest increases in the number and value of payment transactions were recorded by mobile payments (through the applications Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay, FitBit Pay and others.) Their share of all card payments continued to increase in 2023, and by the end of the year, 29.6% of card payments, i.e. almost 1 in every 3, were made using mobile or smartwatch apps.

Mobile Payment Initiatives

In 2024, the various European mobile payment initiatives can be grouped into

Innovative retailers that offer their own apps with loyalty and payment functions to their consumers

In February 2021, a mobile app that transformed a smartphone into a payment terminal was launched by Slovenská sporiteľňa together with Global Payments, VISA and Mastercard. Merchants in Slovakia are among the first in Europe to be able to use this app.

The mobile app GP tom works on all phones with Android 8 and higher and with an NFC chip. Card payments can be accepted by merchants wherever there is a data signal.

Central Bank Digital Currencies, Cryptocurrency Products 

In 2023, the Slovakian payment ecosystem was composed of traditional cash payments, digital cryptocurrency products of independent payment service providers and research and development of central bank digital currencies, CBDC. The regulation of cryptocurrencies is becoming increasingly relevant as independent cryptocurrency products have grown more prevalent, posing challenges for regulators and national central banks.

In July 2023, the European Union introduced the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which aims to standardize cryptocurrency regulation across member states, including Luxembourg. This regulation addresses various aspects of crypto assets, such as market integrity, consumer protection, and financial stability, while also promoting innovation in the sector. Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers will have specific obligations to protect users’ wallets and mitigate investment risks.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – The Digital Cash Challenge 

Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical banknotes and coins.

All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.

Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.

National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.

Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.

Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.

CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.

CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.

Background on CBDC Evolution

In October 2020, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.

The report focused on a publicly available “general purpose” CBDC (a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank).

A “wholesale” CBDC, restricted to financial institutions, is also an active area of exploration, notes the report, for central banks but one that carries different opportunities, challenges, and risks. The report explored the use cases for, and challenges and opportunities arising from, the possible issuance of a general purpose CBDC.

In September 2021, the same seven central banks and the BIS followed up with the publication of a new set of reports exploring the potential of retail CBDCs, including policy options and practical implementation issues. While none of the central banks has yet decided to proceed with a retail CBDC, they recognise such an instrument would have wide-ranging implications. Delivering on the future needs of consumers would require systems that encourage innovation, choice and competition among a diverse mix of intermediaries.

BIS reported that a 2021 survey of central banks found that “86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is piloting a ‘digital yuan’, known as e-CNY, in various cities, often in association with major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics.

The ECB published a paper on the potential of a “digital euro” in October 2020, exploring the “benefits and risks” of such an initiative. It completed a public consultation in January 2021 and a series of focus groups in December 2021. Its investigation stage is expected to continue until October 2023, after which the ECB “will decide whether to start developing a digital euro.”

The US Federal Reserve reported in February 2022 that while it has made no decisions about “whether to pursue or implement” a CBDC, it was “exploring the potential benefits and risks of CBDCs from a variety of angles and was inviting public feedback on discussion papers.

The Bank of Japan said in October 2020 that it had no plans for a CBDC and was committed to maintain the cash system as long as there was public demand for it. It nevertheless intended to explore technical feasibility through a proof of concept, consider institutional arrangements and coordinate approaches with domestic and international stakeholders. In 2023, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it will begin a pilot for its digital yen with commercial financial institutions. In February 2023, Bank of Japan has embarked on a CBDC trial.

In June 2023, the BIS and BoE said they completed a CBDC pilot project involving CBDCs jointly run by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). Project Rosalind was designed to explore how a “universal and extensible API layer” could connect central bank and private sector infrastructures and enable retail CBDC payments. The project also sought to develop a number of retail-CBDC use cases.

According to the BIS and BoE, the project has successfully demonstrated that “a well-designed API layer could work with different private sector applications and central bank ledger designs and that a set of simple and standardised API functionalities could support a diverse range of use cases”.

In all, the project led to the development of 33 API functionalities and examined 30 retail CBDC cases including peer-to-peer transfers, retail payments for goods and services and small-value business transactions.

While CBDCs are still in experimental phases across major economies, 2024 has seen increased momentum towards real-world implementation, with several countries, notably China and the ECB, moving closer to full-scale rollouts. Public-private collaboration, technological innovation, and privacy concerns remain central to future CBDC development. Central banks worldwide continue to balance innovation with maintaining public trust and financial stability in this rapidly evolving space.

Global Status of CBDCs 

Most National Central Banks (NCBs) are involved in different stages of a CDBC project. Especially, the NCBs have different views on which kind of CDBC they would intend to launch as a digital currency:

As of 2023, the global CDBC status reveals that four central banks – Nigeria (e-Naira), Eastern Caribbean (D-Cash), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and the Bahamas (Sand Dollar) – have introduced a domestic CBDC scheme.

Six countries have launched a CDBC pilot: France, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana.

The NCBs of most other countries are involved in either a CDBC proof-of-concept phase – including Norway, Hungary, and Sweden – or they are still in a CDBC research stage.

So far, Ecuador is the only country that has cancelled its CBDC ambitions, Dinero electronico.

CBDC, the European Union and the Digital Euro

In July 2021, the Estonian Central Bank released a report about its experiment with the ECB and the central banks of Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the Netherlands to assess the functionality of the digital euro. The project was able to conduct 300,000 transactions per second, with an average rate of less than two seconds per transaction.

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its legislative proposal establishing the legal framework for a possible digital euro, stressing that the CBDC would be a compliment to, not replacement for, cash.

A digital euro would be available alongside existing national and international private means of payment, such as cards or applications. It would work like a digital wallet, with people and businesses able to pay with it anytime and anywhere in the euro area.

The digital euro would be available for payments both online and offline. While online transactions would offer the same level of data privacy as existing digital means of payments, offline payments would essentially be like paying with cash – with nobody able to see what people are paying for.

The digital euro would be distributed by banks and other payment service providers, with basic services provided to people free of charge. Merchants would be required to accept the digital currency unless they are cash-only firms.

The EC’s proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council before the European Central Bank decides whether to roll out a digital euro. Notably, the European Central Bank (ECB) is involved in the preparation phase, which will run until 2025. During this time, technical experimentation and legal discussions are ongoing before any formal rollout decisions can be made​.

CDBC and Slovakia

As of mid-2022, the NBS had not made any public commitment to using a digital currency.

In 2024, NBS published an occasional paper titled “Survey of Potential Users of the Digital Euro: New Evidence from Slovakia,” which examines the potential implications of a digital euro for the Slovak economy. This study provides insights into public perceptions and the possible economic impacts of introducing a digital euro in Slovakia.

Pros and Cons of CBDCs

According to research by the Bank of England, BIS, and by several other central banks, the benefits of CBDCs include supporting increased innovation in the payment system with:

Possible challenges related to use of CBDCs could include:

The ECB commissioned multiple exploratory reports on the feasibility of a digital euro in 2020 and 2021. The ECB’s working paper suggests a two-tier system for a “general purpose” CBDC. In July 2021, the ECB announced that it would launch a 24-month investigation phase for the digital euro project, which aims to address key issues regarding the design and distribution of a digital euro. The investigation phase will include focus groups, prototyping and conceptual work. In February 2022, the European Commission announced that it will propose a bill that would serve as the legal foundation for the issuance of a digital euro by the ECB. In May 2022, Christine Lagarde stated that she would be willing to back the digital Euro. By June 2023, the ECB and European Commission had significantly advanced their legislative and technical work, moving closer to launching a pilot phase for the digital euro in 2024. The pilot phase is expected to assess the practical implementation of the digital euro, following the completion of the current investigation period​.

The working paper states that the use of CBDC for retail payments is the primary use-case for the development of a digital Euro. The paper also rejects the motivation of using CBDC as a store of value, which would involve consumers switching deposits from commercial banks into CBDC. The working paper also recommends that a CBDC should be interest-bearing, with attractive interest rates offered for smaller sums suitable for payments and lower rates available for larger amounts.

Cryptocurrencies EU

The regulation of crypto assets and related services across Europe is not standardised and is highly fragmented. While no nation has outright banned usage of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, regulators have not formed a consensus over how to legislate such a quickly fluctuating market, where new cryptocurrencies emerge faster than regulators can catch up to.

The current approach across Europe is to adapt existing legislations to encompass cryptocurrencies, however, this is unlikely to be efficient as consumer and business usage changes.

In the European Union, the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) covers certain crypto assets under the term “virtual currencies”, but it does not provide a harmonised approach. As a result, each Member State has created its own regulatory regime for transactions related to “virtual currencies” or crypto assets

In response, the European Commission proposed the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation in 2020 as part of the Digital Finance Strategy, with MiCA expected to come into force in 2022 and will be directly applicable in all Member States after an 18-month transition period. MiCA will result in a harmonised set of rules for products and services and legal certainty related to crypto assets throughout the European Union in 2024. This would enable a larger number of investors to be active in this area and to use distributed ledger technology (DLT).

MiCA is to apply to all persons who want to issue crypto assets or provide services related to crypto assets in the EU.

The MiCA proposal is intended to lay down uniform rules on transparency and disclosure requirements for the issuance, offer to the public and the admission to trading of crypto assets. In addition, there are rules on the authorisation and supervision of crypto asset service providers and their issuers.

The main focus lies with the issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The Regulation intends to regulate the operation, organisation and governance of issuers of asset referenced tokens and e-money tokens and crypto asset service providers. There will also be investor protection rules for the issuance, trading, exchange and custody of crypto assets. In addition, measures to prevent market abuse are to be included in the Regulation to ensure the integrity of the crypto assets markets.

In June 2022, the EU Council President and European Parliament reached agreement on MiCA regulation, ruling that crypto asset service providers will require authorisation to operate in the EU, not including NFTs or media-related digital assets.

Under the agreement, the regulatory framework will protect investors and consumers, while ensuring financial stability and enabling innovation and growth. The regulations will help protect consumers from fraud and scams, as crypto asset service providers will be liable if they lose assets and fail to protect investors’ wallets. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will form a public register of non-compliant crypto asset providers.

The regulation will also implement restrictions on stablecoins, with stablecoin issuers to be supervised by the EBA and their “holders will be offered a claim at any time and free of charge.”

Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background 

Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.

Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products, and they see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.

Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.

As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.

According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.

In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).

Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.

A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.

A recent report by Triple-A put cryptocurrency ownership in Europe at around 49 million people.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a type of asset-backed cryptocurrency, whose value is typically pegged to the value of an underlying asset such as USD, GBP, or commodities like gold. Stablecoins are partially backed by real assets, and they are designed to have a value pegged to real-world assets, therefore avoiding the extreme volatility that affects cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins offer the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, like transparency, security, immutability, and decentralised control, while maintaining the guarantees and stability that come with using fiat currency. Stablecoins have potential to be used in cross-border payments, providing a secure, online environment for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place without needing decentralised cryptocurrencies or to pay fees to convert money into local currencies.

As of 2024, there were more than 200 stablecoins globally, comprising a market that’s worth approximately $174 billion.

A survey of central banks in January 2021 found that two-thirds of respondents are actively researching the potential impact of stablecoins on financial stability. However, some regulators in the US and China, consider stablecoins as a potential serious risk to financial systems. The risk is especially high with centralised coins, such as those backed by fiat and issued by private organisations, as economic power would be disproportionately concentrated on a single entity.

The widespread use of stablecoins in payment platforms could also pose a systemic risk, in relation to the validation and confirmation of stablecoin transactions which could interfere with payment systems. If stablecoin users couldn’t access money in their e-wallets and businesses couldn’t receive payments, economic activity would be greatly disrupted. However, these risks have not deterred major institutions like JP Morgan and VISA to explore stablecoin use cases via partnerships and internal R&D.

Tether As of 2024, Tether remains the largest stablecoin globally, holding a market share of over 50%. This dominance is driven by its widespread usage and liquidity in crypto markets. Its nearest competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and decentralized stablecoins like DAI, although Tether’s market share far exceeds them. Recent reports have shown Tether’s involvement in major financial markets and even Bitcoin mining, further reinforcing its stronghold on the crypto landscape.

Regarding Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) project, it was officially abandoned. Diem’s assets were sold off to Silvergate Capital in early 2022, marking the end of the initiative that once aimed to create a globally accessible digital currency. Regulatory pressures and internal challenges led to the dissolution of the project.

Market Size and Dynamics

Cards in Issue

ZBK, the Slovak Bank Cards Association, provides insight regarding card types issued by its member banks. All cards carry one of the international card brands. Slovak debit cards are branded Mastercard, Debit Mastercard, Maestro, VISA, Electron or VISA Debit. Slovak specific, many debit cards just carry the Mastercard or VISA brand. There is a growing trend to replace Maestro and Electron cards by Debit Mastercard and VISA Debit cards, respectively.

The number of bank cards in issue rose from 4.3 million in 2006 to 6.28 million in 2023. Debit cards dominate with 90.01%. Few delayed debit cards have been issued. In 2015, there were for the first time in Slovak history more than one card per capita. In 2023, there were 1.08 cards per capita.

Slovakia is a showcase market for the adoption of contactless technology. In 2023, 99.79% of all cards in circulation were contactless cards, one of the most advanced proportion in Europe.

9 – Cards Issued in Slovakia

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Source: ECB, NBS.

Card Fraud

Card fraud is one of the most fascinating aspects of the payments industry, not least because it is relentless and mutating. EMV implementation and 3D-Secure, combined with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), have done much to reduce domestic losses from lost and stolen cards in Europe. However, the war against fraud losses and the changing face of fraud continues to be a threat for the payments industry, including Slovakia.

The global card fraud challenges are Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), cross-border fraud and counterfeiting on non-EMV cards. CNP fraud accounted for 80% of the total value of card fraud losses in 2020. From 2017, a new payment fraud category are fraud losses on contactless card payments. International card fraud continues to be smaller in scale than domestic card abuse but is proportionately far more common. And of course, fraudulent cross-border transactions on cards continue to grow on all purchase channels.

Losses from card fraud on the internet and cross-border fraud on domestic cards have grown significantly. Following EMV implementation, card fraud has moved increasing to countries where POS terminals or online shops have not yet been migrated to EMV and SCA, respectively, and to cross-border fraud with compromised cards.

The breakdown of card fraud losses by method of compromise already indicates the importance of distinguishing between domestic and cross-border fraud losses. The method of compromise covers the means by which fraudsters obtain payment cards or card details. Notable methods of compromise in a complex payment world are CNP fraud based on theft of card credentials and card lost and stolen fraud followed by growing ID fraud and by cross-counterfeit fraud.

The main method of compromise responsible for losses in many European countries is now the theft of card credentials. A high proportion of these card fraud losses are caused by the growth in e-commerce, and still the lack of use of strong customer authentication methods such as 3D-Secure.

In a post data-breach world, identity information, payment credentials, account credentials and responses to security questions are widely available for purchase in bulk. Complete fraud exploits and zero-day attacks are also easily available on the black market for outright purchase or as a hosted / fully managed service.

In the digital payments world and having the changing face of fraud in mind, there are significant challenges for card issuing banks, payment service providers and their supporting processors.

According to ECB figures published in August 2020, the value of card fraud as a share of transaction value was 0.006% in 2018 and 0.004% by volume.

In 2018 acquirer card fraud losses by channel were composed of ATM fraud: 1%, POS fraud: 11% and CNP fraud: 88%. Issuer card fraud losses by channel were composed of ATM fraud: 4%, POS fraud: 11% and CNP fraud: 85%.

As most POS card transactions are authorised online-to-issuer, acquirer fraud rates in Slovakia are under control except for offline vending machines, e-commerce and a few other hotspots. Obviously, EMV implementation has contributed significantly to declining fraud rates.

Slovak banks are pushing 3D-Secure, offer PIN-change services at ATMs and SMS notification to inform cardholders about the use of their credit card. The increasing numbers of chip technology cards, contactless cards and display cards have led to improved safety of payment transactions. Credit card fraud prevention measures taken have been pushing 3D-Secure, updating banks’ fraud prevention systems and real-time-scoring and implementing more rule-based fraud control mechanisms.

According to the central bank, during 2021 there was a clear trend of increasing online fraud in various guises. As shopping patterns changed fundamentally following the COVID-19 pandemic, many people became more vulnerable to, for example, fraudulent loans. The central bank stated that in particular, mobile payment fraud, i.e. fraud concerning digital wallet payments via smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets, was rising. In such cases, the fraudster seeks to add a payment card to a digital wallet and make purchase payments to brick-and-mortar or online merchants without using a PIN code.

Card Use

Card payments have grown strongly, thrice between 2007 and 2013, and surpassing the number of ATM withdrawals for the first time in 2009. The card payments surpassed the withdrawals value on cards for the first time in 2014.

According to NBS, in 2023, cards accounted for 982.18 million payments (+12.59%) with a total value of €26.42 billion (-18.91% vs 2022). The ATV per card payment amounted to €26.90, and there was an average of 166.1 payments per card per year. Debit card payments accounted for 93.64% by number and 92.12% by value. Delayed debit card payments continued to play a niche role.

Included in the card payments total in 2023 were 204.82 million remote card payments (-12.29%) with a total value of €7.64 billion (-52.88% from 2022). Remote payments represent around 20.85% of overall payments.

10 – Payments with Slovakian Cards

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Source: ECB, NBS.

Contactless Card Use – In 2023, 5.90 million contactless payment cards were issued in Slovakia, according to the Slovak Banking Association. As of 2023, 785,813,585 card transactions were contactless, for a total value of €18.16 billion.

Cash withdrawals – According to NBS, in 2023, there were 77.50 million cash withdrawals on Slovakian cards (+5.13%) giving on average 12.3 withdrawals per card per year (+4.73%). The total withdrawals value on cards was €20.51 billion, an increase of 9.89% from 2022. The ATV per cash withdrawal accounted for €264.67.

11 – Cash Withdrawals with Slovakian Cards

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Source: ECB, NBS.

Card Use per Capita

Card payments per capita were 180.2 in 2023 (+12.60% vs 2022), up from 101.7 in 2019. According to the ECB, there were 168.5 debit card payments per capita and 10.9 credit card payments per capita. In addition, there were 14.2 cash withdrawals on cards per capita.

12 – Card Payments Per Capita in Slovakia

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Sources: ECB, NBS

Debit Card Use

Debit card payments have grown rapidly, especially contactless payments. In 2023, there were 919.70 million debit card payments (+12.40%) with a total value of €24.34 billion (-20.81% vs 2022). The ATV per debit card payment accounted for €26.47, and there were 172.8 payments per debit card per year.

13 – Payments with Slovakian Debit Cards

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Source: ECB, NBS.

Credit Card Use

Credit card payments have also grown rapidly, though off a much smaller base. In 2023, there were 59.25 million credit card payments (+11.60%) with the total value €1.99 billion (+10.56% from 2022). The ATV per credit card payment was €33.69, and there were 100.7 payments per credit card per year.

14 – Payments with Slovakian Credit Cards

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Source: ECB, NBS.

E-Money Use

In 2023, NBS reported 392,665 cards issued giving access to e-money stored on e-money accounts, mostly prepaid cards. There were 1.29 million e-money purchases with a total value of €142.03 million. The ATV per e-money purchase accounted for €110.53, and there were 3.3purchases per e-money card per year.

15 – E-Money in Slovakia

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Note: from 2014, all purchases made with cards giving access e-money stored on e-money accounts.
Source: ECB, NBS

Leading Card Issuers

SLSP issues Maestro debit cards and Debit Mastercard debit cards, Mass and World, as well as VISA Debit and Electron cards. From 2015, all debit cards have a contactless Mastercard PayPass function while all VISA cards have a contactless payWave function. It also issues the VISA Electronic debit card for internet payments, two VISA Space debit cards aimed at young people, and the Maestro-branded Bratislava City public transit card.

In 2008, SLSP was the first bank to issue prepaid cards in the country. SLSP’s credit cards are branded VISA and carry up to 45 days interest-free on purchases.

During 2021, SLSP migrated its 400,000-strong card portfolio to VISA from Mastercard. During the year, the bank also made it possible to set up an additional card online in George. The introduction of the George Moneyback service was also successful, with approximately 260,000 George mobile app users activating this functionality as of December 2021.

VUB VUB reported more than 1 million bank cards in circulation as of 2023, of which 97,770 were credit cards. According to VUB, 2023 was second in row in which volumes of card payments overpassed volume of cash withdrawals with card issued by bank with 53.4% of card volumes done by payments. Card payments increased by 23% in the number of transactions and 26.6% in value. Card payments via the internet increased by 14.7% in volume and 18.5% in value.

VUB offers a full range of Mastercard and VISA debit and credit cards. Most of the latter are deferred debit cards. VUB ceased the issuance of American Express cards in 2019.

Tatra Banka claims market leadership in Slovakia, with more than 2 million cards issued at end-2022. Tatra’s core offering includes Mastercard and VISA debit and credit and prepaid cards. All cards branded Mastercard have a contactless PayPass function while all VISA cards have a contactless payWave function (except prepaid cards).

In payment cards, Tatra Banka introduced digital debit payment cards at the beginning of 2021. Despite the pandemic, the bank increased its market share in outsourcing credit cards for private individuals, achieving a 32% share through gradual growth. The bank also saw an increase in its share of digital channel sales, to 13.5%.

The total volume and number of transactions made by payment cards issued by Tatra Banka also increased in 2023, increasing in value by 13% and volume by 20% from 2022. There was also robust growth in e-commerce transactions – 32% higher in number and 22% higher in value than in 2020. Cashless payments are becoming increasingly popular, and the bank has seen significant shifts in this area. In 2023, the number of cashless card payments increased by 21% compared to 2022, and the volume of cashless payments was higher by 17%. The portfolio of credit cards issued by Tatra Banka increased by 8,800 in 2023.

CSOB SR reported 375,535 cards at end-2020 of which 333,327 cards were debit cards and 42,208 were credit cards. The bank issues a full range of Mastercard, VISA and VISA debit and credit cards. From November 2013, all cards issued are contactless cards. In 2020, CSOB cardholders made 51,975,882 transactions worth €2,696,809,349. In the e-commerce space, 569 e-commerce merchants were onboarded as of 2020, with the total number of e-commerce transactions rising to 2,262,375 for a total value of €64,371,402. No update was given for 2022 and 2023.

UniCredit Bank branch Slovakia – The bank issues VISA Debit and Electron debit cards, and a VISA Classic Sphere credit card, and a Maestro Bratislava City debit card. All cards are issued with contactless function, from end-2015.

Prima Banka Slovensko issues a Mastercard Debit card and Mastercard Standard and Gold credit cards. All cards have contactless PayPass function. The number of clients using payment cards increased substantially in 2020. Debit Mastercard payment cards are gradually replacing the electronic Maestro card and give clients a wider range of online payment options, including a significant increase in the share of online payments and a sharp increase in the use of Google Pay and Apple Pay. The number of cards registered for these services increased year-on-year by more than 220%.

Bratislava City Card – Since March 2011, Prima Banka’s predecessor, Sberbank, issued the Bratislava City Card to current accounts for clients with permanent residence in Bratislava. The Bratislava City Card is a Maestro debit card with contactless PayPass function, issued free to current accounts with validity for three years (free of charge in the first year). Bratislava City Card can be used as a substitute for the city public transportation pass in Bratislava. Its functionality is identical with the identification chip card used on the Bratislava public transport today. Together with the card, cardholders obtain a 10% discount on the prepaid public transport pass and a 20% discount in selected city organisations (ZOO, museums, galleries, STaRZ sport fields).

ZUNO Bank, the direct banking operation of Alfa Group (RUS), had issued VISA Debit cards and contactless Mastercard credit cards including a Platinum card. As at end-2017, Tatra Banka absorbed ZUNO Banka Slovakia. A substantial number of ZUNO clients accepted an offer made by Tatra Banka to open an account becoming an active digital banking customer.

Consumer Finance Credit Card Issuers – Several of the major international consumer finance specialists operate in Slovakia. Cetelem launched in June 2000 through a retail agreement with Carrefour, its regular – though not invariable – partner in Eastern Europe. Its core offering is a Mastercard-branded credit card.

In August 2006, Société Générale announced the launch of Essox, a new consumer finance subsidiary in Slovakia. Cofidis, the consumer credit business now owned by Crédit Mutuel, launched a Slovak business in September 2007.

Appendix

Significant Events in Slovak Banking

The Slovak market is dominated by foreign banks following a consolidation process in the last decade. Some significant events in the Slovak banking market are listed below:

February 2020 KBC acquired OTP Banka Slovensko to be integrated into CSOB.
August 2017 Prima Banka and Sberbank Slovensko merged and became Prima Banka SK.

Credit Bureau

Slovak Banking Credit Bureau (SBCB) is managed in partnership with CRIF of Italy, which also owns Czech Credit Bureau (CCB). SBCB is supported by all the major banks, with a mandate to keep records of individuals and businesses with loan agreements or credit cards; it does not hold any data on account balances. VUB owns 33.3% of the shares of SBCB.

Table Data

1 – Main Slovakian Banks (2023)

[ninja_tables id=”4980″]

Note: OTP Bank was acquired by KBC Group in February 2020 and was integrated into CSOB Banka in November 2020.
Note: the Slovak branch of UniCredit Bank CR+SK (market share: 9%) is not included above.
Note: Postova Banka was rebranded as 365.bank in 2021
Source: Individiual bank reports

2 – Cashless Payments in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4981″]

Note: e-money included in card payments.
Note: totals include payments by ‘other payment services’ i.e. book-entry transactions.
Source: ECB, NBS.

3 – Leading Card Issuers in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4982″]

Note: Slovak banks issue Mastercard/VISA cards as credit cards and as debit cards.
Source: PCM research.

4 – Leading Acquirers in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4983″]

Note: cross-border acquirer Worldline SIX Payment Services acquires UnionPay and JCB. Wirecard also acquires UnionPay.
Note: accepted card brands include Debit Mastercard and VISA Debit, respectively.
Source: PCM research

5 – ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4984″]

Source: ECB, NBS.

6 – POS Terminals in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4985″]

Source: ECB, NBS.

7 – Cash-Advances at POS Terminals in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4986″]

Source: ECB, NBS

8 – Internet Use in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4987″]

Sources: Eurostat, ITU, PCM research.

9 – Cards Issued in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4988″]

Source: ECB, NBS.

10 – Payments with Slovakian Cards

[ninja_tables id=”4989″]

Source: ECB, NBS.

11 – Cash Withdrawals with Slovakian Cards

[ninja_tables id=”4990″]

Source: ECB, NBS.

12 – Card Payments Per Capita in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4991″]

Sources: ECB, NBS

13 – Payments with Slovakian Debit Cards

[ninja_tables id=”4992″]

Source: ECB, NBS.

14 – Payments with Slovakian Credit Cards

[ninja_tables id=”4993″]

Source: ECB, NBS.

15 – E-Money in Slovakia

[ninja_tables id=”4994″]

Note: from 2014, all purchases made with cards giving access e-money stored on e-money accounts.
Source: ECB, NBS

Digital & Card Payment Yearbooks