Best bank: Tatra banka
A combination of strong profitability growth, rapid digital product expansion and proactive responses to regulatory change underpinned Tatra banka’s strong performance in Slovakia in 2025.
Preliminary results for 2025 show net income reaching €240.1 million, with year-on-year profit growth of around 20% by the third quarter, supported by loan book expansion and rising market share in both loans and deposits. Growth was achieved alongside stable cost discipline, reflected in a cost-to-income ratio below 44%, and continued balance sheet expansion pushed the loan-to-deposit ratio close to 98%.
The bank introduced fully digital mortgage origination through Digital MortgageTB, allowing end-to-end application via mobile, including onboarding for new clients using biometric identity verification. Complementary tools such as a declarative online calculator and Loan Navigator simplified borrowing decisions across multiple loan types, while refinancing functionality was integrated into the same journey.
Adoption of mobile banking continued to deepen, with over 712,000 monthly users and penetration reaching 82% of current account clients. Process redesign reduced app activation time from 120 to 30 seconds and cut password resets by more than 70%.
Customer interaction shifted further toward embedded digital servicing, including a remote assistance tool enabling secure in-app chat, co browsing and video support, achieving an net promoter score of up to 94 among users.
In the SME segment, a campaign responding to new transaction tax legislation helped capture a roughly one-third share among entrepreneurs and drove a fourfold increase in the self-employed segment.
Best digital bank: Slovenská sporiteľňa
Slovenská sporiteľňa stood out in Slovakia in 2025 for its strong growth in digital usage, resilient sales despite regulatory disruption and continued expansion of in-app products across investing, payments and everyday banking.
Retail digital use increased through 2025, with monthly active users rising to 1.1 million by year end, driven by continued migration toward the George mobile app, where activity grew while web use declined. Engagement is supported by consistently high customer ratings, with the app maintaining a 4.8/5 score across platforms.
At the same time, 74% of new current accounts were opened digitally, with onboarding times remaining below 10 minutes even after extended KYC requirements. The same infrastructure was used to open around 75,000 micro-client accounts.
Development during the year focused on extending functionality within the app. The investment offering expanded to more than 1,000 instruments, including ETFs and other exchange-traded products, alongside the introduction of fully digital access to government bonds for retail clients.
In payments, 690 contactless-enabled ATMs supported broader adoption of cardless cash access, while virtual cards reached 12.5% of the portfolio. Lending servicing remained predominantly digital, with over 90% of selected transactions completed in-app, and new ecosystem integrations, including telecom-enabled youth onboarding, showed measurable uptake among newly acquired customers.
Best bank for ESG: Slovenská sporiteľňa
Slovenská sporiteľňa expanded sustainable finance across green mortgages, ESG-linked lending and corporate exposures in Slovakia in 2025, supported by targeted product innovation and social programmes delivering measurable ESG outcomes.
Sustainable finance activity increased considerably in 2025, with total sustainable debt issuance rising by approximately 22% year-on-year, outpacing overall issuance growth and increasing its proportional contribution.
Committed ESG finance targets almost doubled year-on-year to €852 million, reflecting a strong acceleration in transition and impact-linked lending. This momentum translated into portfolio shifts, including an increase in the sustainable share of mortgages to 14.4%, alongside continued alignment of corporate exposures with sector-specific decarbonisation pathways in areas such as heating, real estate and energy.
Product development focused on practical deployment channels for clients. There were new and enhanced facilities linked lending to public and supranational schemes, including renovation loans supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan, as well as SME and small mid-cap financing backed by the EIF and EIB for energy efficiency upgrades and low-carbon investments.
Core offerings, such as eco loans for renewable energy and electric mobility, continued to expand, while sustainability-linked structures embedded performance incentives tied to emissions reduction in client financing.
Social initiatives were scaled alongside environmental financing. Affordable housing programmes increased the supply of units dedicated to vulnerable groups, and microloan schemes targeting marginalised communities combined access to credit with financial education and advisory support. The Social Banking programme broadened its reach to clients in financial distress, integrating restructuring tools with longer term financial resilience support.
Best digital bank for consumers: 365.bank
365.bank continued to strengthen its consumer proposition over the awards period by deepening its use of behavioural science and expanding its digital ecosystem. Unlike traditional banks that have bolted digital features onto legacy infrastructure, 365.bank was designed as a purely digital institution, and the past year saw it lean further into this advantage.
Central to the bank’s strategy was its micro-saving and micro-investing tool known as Syslenie (squirreling money away), which uses automated nudging techniques to help customers build financial reserves. In a country where the average household saves just 4% of income, the product addresses a genuine structural gap.
By 2025, the bank recorded a 30% increase in customers using micro-investing, while the total number of clients investing through its asset management subsidiary 365.invest surpassed 83,000.
Engagement was further deepened by payment innovation. Digital cards that can be reissued in seconds drove a 30% jump in transaction value, while more than two-thirds of new customers opted to bank with a virtual-only card, eliminating plastic altogether. Wearable-token support was widened to nine brands, from Apple Pay to SwatchPAY!, putting the bank ahead of any local rival.
Late in 2025, the lender introduced one-click pre-approved consumer loans inside the app, with the streamlined flow trimming application time by roughly 70% and delivered approval rates above 90%. Security was reinforced by a real-time fraud-detection engine that screens behaviour and geolocation before authorisation, blocking suspect transactions instantly.
Finally, 365.bank began weaving lifestyle rewards directly into its platform. A partnership with Tatry Mountain Resorts’ Gopass loyalty scheme gives cardholders automatic discounts on ski passes, waterpark entries and retail spend, transforming the banking app into a leisure gateway as well as a wallet.
