# Slovakia — payment codes and schemes

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/SK
> extracted at 2026-10-06
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

## Summary

- **SEPA Instant** is the primary instant payment system via TIPS
- **Payme** is the Slovak Banking Association's payment link standard (2020)
- **PAY by square** (Slovak Banking Association, 2013) is the de-facto national payment/invoice QR standard, supported by all Slovak banks; there is no central-bank-mandated QR scheme [11][13]
- **27% of transfers** are instant payments (end 2024)
- **Big Three** (Slovenská sporiteľňa, VÚB, Tatra banka) hold 85%+ of assets

## Banking landscape

### Central Bank
- **Name:** Národná banka Slovenska (NBS)
- **Website:** https://nbs.sk/
- **Role:** Eurosystem member, TIPS provider, payment systems oversight

### Major Banks (2024)

| Rank | Bank Name | Total Assets (EUR) | Market Share | Owner |
|------|-----------|-------------------|--------------|-------|
| 1 | Slovenská sporiteľňa | 26,379 M | 30.90% | Erste Group (Austria) |
| 2 | VÚB Banka | 25,254 M | 29.58% | Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy) |
| 3 | Tatra banka | 20,903 M | 24.48% | RBI (Austria) |
| 4 | ČSOB | ~5,000 M | ~6% | KBC Group (Belgium) |
| 5 | Prima Banka | ~3,000 M | ~3.5% | Penta Investments |

### Market Structure
- **Big Three:** Control ~85% of banking assets
- **Foreign Ownership:** All major banks owned by EU banking groups
- **Concentration:** Highly concentrated market
- **Tatra banka:** Won Euromoney Best Bank 2023

### Ownership Details
- Slovenská sporiteľňa: Erste Group (Austria)
- VÚB Banka: Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy)
- Tatra banka: Raiffeisen Bank International (Austria)

---

## Payment infrastructure

### National Payment Systems

| System | Operator | Type | Status |
|--------|----------|------|--------|
| TIPS | Eurosystem/NBS | Instant EUR | Active |
| SIPS | NBS | Domestic clearing | Active |
| TARGET2-SK | NBS | RTGS | Active |

### SEPA Instant in Slovakia
- **Launch:** 2022
- **Adoption:** 27% of all SEPA transfers (end 2024)
- **Full Coverage:** January 9, 2025 (all banks receive instant)
- **Fee Policy:** No higher fees than regular transfers

### NBS Role
- Eurosystem member providing TIPS access
- TARGET2 component operator
- Payment systems oversight

### January 2025 Milestone
- All banks must receive instant payments
- EU Regulation 2024/886 compliance
- Universal instant payment access

---

## QR code standards

### Payment QR Landscape

Slovakia has no central-bank-mandated QR payment scheme, but the Slovak Banking Association's **PAY by square** standard (2013) is the de-facto national bank standard for payment and invoice QR codes and is read by all Slovak banks' apps [11][12][13]. The market uses:

| Framework | Type | Status |
|-----------|------|--------|
| PAY by square | SBA bank-standard QR (invoices, payment orders) | Active (2013) |
| EPC QR | European standard | Available |
| Payme (links) | Payment links | Active (2020) |
| Bank-specific QR | Various | Varies |

### Payme Payment Link Standard

| Attribute | Value |
|-----------|-------|
| **Launch** | 2020 |
| **Operator** | Slovak Banking Association |
| **Type** | Payment link (web links, not QR-native) |
| **Purpose** | Electronic payment information sharing |

### How Payme Works
1. Payee creates payment link with details
2. Link shared via email, SMS, messaging
3. Recipient clicks link
4. Opens banking app with pre-filled payment
5. User confirms and pays

### PAY by square

| Attribute | Value |
|-----------|-------|
| **Adopted** | 2013 by the Slovak Banking Association [11][17] |
| **Developed by** | SBA with member banks and Forsys a.s. (per SBA licence terms) [11]; specification published by ADELANTE, s.r.o. "for the benefit of" the SBA [12][14] |
| **Licence** | Free, royalty-free use and redistribution of the specification; codes must carry the PAY by square logo [11] |
| **Symbology** | QR Code 2005, alphanumeric mode, error correction L, versions 1–17 [12] |
| **Payload** | Tab-separated fields + CRC32, LZMA-compressed (lc=3, lp=0, pb=2, 128 KiB dictionary), two-byte header (type/version/doc type/reserved), Base32hex [12] |
| **Content** | Payment order, standing order and/or direct debit; IBAN/BIC (multiple accounts), amount, currency, due date, variable/constant/specific symbol or SEPA reference, note, beneficiary name (required since spec 1.2.0, April 2025) [12] |
| **Bank support** | "Supported by all Slovak banks" (May 2026) [13] |
| **Related** | INVOICE by square (invoice data, tax recap; supported by SKCÚ) [14] |

Uses include invoices paid by banking app or at any Slovak post office [14], government fees via the slovensko.sk portal [15], and small-merchant point-of-sale payments after the 1 May 2026 cashless-option requirement (Act No. 384/2025 Coll.), where the seller generates a PAY by square code in their banking app [13]. For verified POS payments with the Financial Administration notification system, the SBA's **PAYME** QR/link format is used instead, though not all banks read PAYME codes yet [13][16]. See `reports/standards/pay-by-square.md` for the full technical description.

### EPC QR (European Standard)
- Available through SEPA-compliant banks
- Not widely promoted as primary method
- Standard EPC QR Code format

---

## Mobile payment apps

| App Name | Bank | SEPA Instant | QR | Payme |
|----------|------|--------------|-----|-------|
| Slovenská sporiteľňa | Slovenská sporiteľňa | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| Tatra banka | Tatra banka | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| VÚB Mobil Banking | VÚB | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| ČSOB SmartBanking | ČSOB | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| Prima banka | Prima Banka | Yes | Limited | Yes |

*The QR column comes from the original 2024 survey of app features and predates the PAY by square research; per [13], PAY by square payment QR codes are read by all Slovak banks' apps.*

### App Features
- SEPA Instant payments
- Payme link generation
- Bill payment via QR scan
- International SEPA transfers

---

## Schemes

| Scheme | Type | Symbology | Adoption | Technical standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [PAY by square](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/SK/pay-by-square) | Payment/invoice QR | QR Code (LZMA + Base32hex) | All Slovak banks [13] | [`pay-by-square`](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/pay-by-square) |
| [Payme](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/SK/payme) | Payment link | URL | Banks | [`payme`](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/payme) |
| [EPC QR](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/SK/epc-qr) | European QR | QR Code | Limited | [`epc-qr`](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/epc-qr) |

## Sources

- [NBS - Instant Payments](https://nbs.sk/en/instant-payments/)
- [NBS - SEPA Instant Credit Transfer](https://nbs.sk/en/payments/payment-instruments/sepa-instant-credit-transfer/)
- [EPC - Instant Payments Slovakia](https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/news-insights/insight/instant-payments-slovakia)
- [Tatra banka - SEPA Instant](https://www.tatrabanka.sk/en/personal/account-payments/payment-system/sepa-instant-payment/)
- [TheBanks.eu - Slovakia Major Banks](https://thebanks.eu/countries/Slovakia/major_banks)
- [Transfi - Slovakia Payment Rails](https://www.transfi.com/blog/slovakias-payment-rails-how-they-work---sepa-eft-mobile-banking-systems)
- [NBS - Payments Overview](https://nbs.sk/en/payments/)
- [Inuko - Payme QR](https://www.inuko.net/blog/platform_qr/)
- [Wise - Banks in Slovakia](https://wise.com/gb/blog/banks-in-slovakia)
- [ECB - Instant Payments](https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/intro/mip-online/2022/html/2207_mip_online.en.html)
- [SBA - Podmienky použitia a špecifikácia štandardu PAY by square](https://www.sbaonline.sk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/podmienky-pouzitia-pay-by-square.pdf)
- [ADELANTE / SBA - PAY by square specifications 1.2.0](https://portal.bysquare.com/files/bysquare-PAYspecifications-1.2.0.pdf)
- [STORMWARE - QR platby pri hotovostnom predaji v programe POHODA (May 2026)](https://www.stormware.sk/dnload/QR_platby_pri_hotovostnom_predaji.pdf)
- [ADELANTE - by square](https://bysquare.com/)
- [slovensko.sk - Platba online](https://www.slovensko.sk/sk/platba-online)
- [SBA - Payme](https://www.payme.sk/en)
- [xseman/bysquare (GitHub)](https://github.com/xseman/bysquare)

## Full country report

[SK-slovakia.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/SK)