The Banking Environment
The Czech Republic (CzR) voted strongly to join the EU as from May 2004. Economic growth has been in the 2-3% range but with a budget deficit that is outside the Maastricht guidelines.
CzR has 10.3 million inhabitants and a GDP per head of EUR7,000.
Central Bank
Czech National Bank (Ceska Narodni Banka)
Banking System
There are 36 banks in the Czech Republic:
- 10 are majority locally owned, 3 by the state
- 17 are majority foreign owned
- 9 are branches of foreign banks
95% of banking is under foreign ownership; for example the biggest bank CSOB is owned by KBC of Belgium.
Both residents and non-residents can have CZK and foreign currency accounts, and they can attract interest or go into overdraft.
Currency
CZK – Czech crown or koruna
Cash Management Features
Credit transfers are the dominant payment method. The bigger banks have a nationwide network so it is possible to hold all accounts there and use a zero-balancing system to concentrate cash.
All banks are participants in the single clearing system.
There is little market for the CZK currency externally, despite its convertibility and the lack of exchange controls.
Czech Republic Legal Entity Types - Mainstream
Legal Entity Types |
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Akciova spolecnost – joint-stock company |
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Spolecnost s rucenim omezenym – limited liability company |
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Verejna obchodni spolecnost – general commercial partnership |
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Komanditni spolecnost – limited partnership |
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