The Slovak koruna will be replaced by euro Part 1 Ing. Pavol Kyjac Národná banka Slovenska The date 1 January 2009 is also the time of the end of the official use of the Slovak koruna as the national currency in the Slovak Republic. This reality is also an appropriate opportunity for us to briefly recall the historical roots of the Slovak currency, as well as some of the facts and historical events that have been influencing the monetary development in our area since the first paper money appeared until the present day. THE 1892 MONETARY REFORM Hungary through a network of subsidiaries and AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE CREATION bank offices since its creation in 1878. OF THE KORUNA CURRENCY The main offices of the Austro-Hungarian Bank Historically, the creation of the crown as the ba- were based in Vienna and Budapest. The Austro- sic monetary unit dates back to the 19th century, Hungarian Bank gained the reputation of a reli- more exactly to the year 1892. At that time, the able issuing bank; it managed to work well inde- crown (100 halers) – as the currency resulting pendently of the monarchy’s government power. from a monetary reform – replaced the silver zlat- It was managed by a General Board consisting ník/gulden/florin, which had been used so far.The mostly of respected economists and university silver gulden did not represent the metal basis of professors. The bank was lead by a governor. the Austrian currency due to a disparity between However, the gold crown currency did not re- its purchasing power and the market exchange present a direct exchangeability of banknotes value of the silver amount contained in it. The for monetary metal. The content of the new mo- basis was formed by banknotes; the purchasing netary unit was made up by 0.3280 grams of pure power of the gulden was determined mainly by gold. Silver coins with the same nominal value the foreign exchange policy and discount policy but with the Austrian coat of arms – the impe- of the bank of issue. rial crown and an Austrian legend on the one side The crown currency (koruna/krone/korona) was and with the Hungarian coat of arms – the Hun- introduced in complicated political and economic garian coronation crown and a Hungarian legend conditions of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy as on the other side were minted within the new a so-called gold currency, whose main objective system of coins of the Austro-Hungarian crown was to achieve currency stability and stability of currency (Figure 1 and 2). the currency development. A picture of the ruler Francis Joseph I. with an Austrian or Hungarian legend situated on the THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN BANK front face side of the coin (obverse) was the com- – THE CIRCULATION BANK mon sign of these coins. The Austrian coat of arms According to historical sources, the crown cur- with a designation of the currency unit and with rency introduction was the result of a successful the year of issue, or the Hungarian coat of arms monetary policy of the Austro-Hungarian Bank with a designation of the currency unit, the le- (Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Bank or Osztrák- gend “Korona” and the designation of the year Magyar bank), which had been active in Austria- – the year of minting, were located on the reverse Fig. 1 A crown of 1892 (creation of Fig. 1 A crown with the Fig. 2 A crown of 1915, Austrian Fig. 2 A crown with the Austrian the crown currency), Hungarian le- Hungarian coat of arms of legend, obverse. coat of arms of 1915, reverse. gend, K.B. – Kremnica Mint, obverse. 1892, reverse. BIATEC Volume 16, 7/2008 11 The golden crown currency did not represent a full exchangeability of the crown currency for gold. The golden coins issued to circulation at that time were rather supposed to awaken the ge- neral impression that the Austrian currency was really a gold currency. The price of golden coins was not fixed, it was formed according to the mar- ket situation. In fact, the crown exchangeability was limited to the exchangeability of banknotes for foreign exchange of countries, in which the exchangeability for gold existed. Thus the crown was a gold exchange currency. THE BEGINNINGS OF FINANCE AND BANKING IN SLOVAKIA The creation of the Austro-Hungarian Bank and its activity until 1918 as the central bank of the dual monarchy was geopolitically also directly re- lated to the continuing formation of banking in Slovakia. “Continuing” because the roots of Slovak banking (finance) date even further back – to the period before the foundation of the Austro-Hun- garian Bank in 1878, although the banking sec- Fig. 3 Five guldens of 1762, ban- Fig. 4 Five guldens of 1796, ban- tor in Hungary, and thereby also in Slovakia, was kozettel, the first paper money kozettel. not very developed until the Austro-Hungarian in our territory. Compromise in 1867 and virtually from the 1848 revolution to the Austro-Hungarian Compromise side of the coin. The Austrian and Hungarian in 1867 there was no considerable development crown coinages of the coins of the Austro-Hun- of finance and banking, which was also due to a garian currency were issued in the period 1892– general economic stagnation. 1916, the K.B. symbol on the coin signifies that Finance and banking in our territory developed they have been minted in the Kremnica Mint. only in the following years; for instance the Slo- Both parts of the monarchy were given an or- vak capital occurred in 3 joint stock savings banks der by law to withdraw government notes from out of 66 joint stock banks and savings banks. The circulation. They were replaced at the rate 1 silver most important one was the Sporiteľňa, úč. spol. gulden = 2 crowns. The reduction to crowns took Martin [Plc.], because the centre of the Slovak cul- effect as at 1 January 1900.The replacement of the tural and political life was in Martin at the time. government notes by the crown currency coins had been carried out by 1903, although the cus- THE BANKOZETTELS AS THE FIRST PAPER tom to reduce guldens to kreutzers (1 silver gulden MONEY IN OUR TERRITORY was divided into 100 kreutzers) remained among Considering the importance of the Austro-Hun- the population for a longer period of time. garian Bank as the circulation bank for the then Austria and Hungary, it is worth mentioning that the attempt to perform independent monetary policy has its origin in the foundation of the Aus- trian National Bank in 1816 as a privileged institu- tion, by means of which Francis I. issued money – banknotes. Since during the 1st half of 19th cen- tury the Austrian currency was regarded by the Austrian society as a metal standard currency, the issuing of banknotes was based on silver coverage. From the historical point of view, two curren- cies were valid simultaneously in the Habsburg monarchy at the beginning of 19th century – the convention currency represented by silver coins and paper money – the bankozettels introduced by Maria Theresia in 1762 (Figure 3). The bankozettels with the epigraph Wiener- Stadt-Banco-Zettel were gradually issued by the Municipal Bank of Vienna until 1806 (Figures 4 and 5). The lowest issued denomination was 1 gulden, the highest denomination was 1000 guldens. The bankozettels circulation reached 141 mil- Fig. 5 FiveBIATEC guldens of 1806, face side and rear side, bankozettel. lion guldens in 1800. 12 volume 16, 7/2008 Tab. 1 Development of the price of 100 silver guldens in 1859 March June September December The highest price 112.45 146.70 125.40 125.10 The lowest price 105.00 142.00 117.50 122.90 Source: N. Silin: Rakousko-Uherská banka. Tab. 2 The state debt at the end of individual years in millions of guldens Year 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 Debt 217.289 186.373 174.116 145.800 80.000 Source: N. Silin: Rakousko-uherská banka. Tab. 3 Decrease in banknotes in circulation in 1862–1866 Year 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 (at the end of May) Banknotes 426.87 396.65 375.82 351.10 267.80 Source: N. Silin: Rakousko-Uherská banka. The bankozettels were the first paper money The cashing notes – scheins – replaced the in our territory. Their main objective was to raise paper bankozettels. The creation of the new Vien- financial resources for the repayment of the state nese currency was accompanied by strong de- debt to meet the war expenditures after the lost preciation of money through devaluation, with war with Prussia. They were actually government 100 gold guldens in bankozettels having been notes and an instrument of the government’s equivalent to 20 guldens of the Viennese cur- budgetary policy. At the beginning of the 19th rency in scheins in 1811. The burden of money century, the bankozettels started to lead the sil- depreciation by devaluation continued until ver coins, however their purchasing power was 1817. There were 678,715,925 Viennese currency decreasing rather rapidly considering their enor- guldens in circulation on the day of foundation of mous amount of issue. The high inflation and the the Austrian National Bank on 6 January 1816. existing state debt were the main preconditions for the monetary reform of 1811, during which ACTIVITIES AND THE TASK the Austrian paper currency – the bankozettels OF THE AUSTRIAN NATIONAL BANK – was considerably devaluated. IN THE MONETARY SYSTEM A new paper currency, the so-called scheins The Austrian National Bank carried out 5 issues of – Einloesungsscheine – was introduced by the banknotes denominated in the convention cur- Letters Patent on the Remedy of the Monetary rency from its establishment in 1816 to 1847.