Slovakia

According to Merchant Machine, 82% of Slovaks had access to the internet in 2021. Of all Slovaks using the internet, 66% use the internet for online banking, which is exactly the same as the EU average. Additionally, Slovakia ranks 21st in the integration of digital technologies and 24th for digital public services among EU countries.  

Slovakia falls under the PSD2 legislation and has developed the Slovak Banking API Standard (SBAS). PSD2 is a European Directive that regulates electronic payment services and was implemented in all EEA countries in 2016 and went live in September 2019.

The EU Commission has announced its intention to adopt an Open Finance regulatory framework.

According to The Global Findex Database, 96% of Slovakian adults had bank accounts in 2021. Slovak consumers are particularly interested in the benefits that Open Banking payment initiation services can provide.  In a recent study researching the Open Banking adoption among consumers, 31% of Slovak consumers were interested in having their data used to develop convenient new payment methods, and 32% were interested in receiving intelligent assistance to manage payments.

The Slovak FinTech Association was founded in 2018. According to Tracxn, 129 Fintechs operated in Slovakia in 2022.

Slovakia ranks 19th in the human capital among EU countries in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2022. The human capital measures digital skills, the proportion of employed people working as ICT specialists, female ICT specialists, and enterprises offering ICT training.

The National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) has launched an innovation hub, where Fintechs may enter into a dialogue with NBS experts from various areas who will help them understand and properly implement the fine details of financial market regulation in addition, NBS also has a regulatory sandbox that connects the participant via consultations with NBS to adjust financial innovation in compliance with regulation and practically test it on the Slovak financial market. The purpose of the platform is to facilitate the implementation of innovations in Slovakia, as well as to link the interest of Slovak supervised entities with the interest of Fintech companies. 

While Slovakia is part of the EU and falls under PSD2, it has introduced its own standard Slovak Banking API Standard (SBAS).