Other types of banks

Islamic Banking

•Islamic banks adhere to the concepts of Islamic law. Islamic banking revolves around several well established concepts which are based on Islamic canons. Since the concept of interest is forbidden in Islam, all banking activities must avoid interest. Instead of interest, the bank earns profit (mark-up) and fees on financing facilities that it extends to the customers. Also, deposit makers earn a share of the bank’s profit as opposed to a predetermined interest.

Slovenská sporiteľňa

- is with 2.5 million clients the largest commercial bank in Slovakia. In 2005 and 2006, the Bank was awarded the Euromoney Magazine Award "The Best Bank in Slovakia".

A broad range of insurance products at Slovenská sporiteľňa

Life assurance
Property insurance - buildings and households
Motor insurance
Insurance for journeys and stays abroad
Travel insurance bound to payment cards
Credit insurance

Online banking (or Internet banking)

- is a term used for performing transactions, payments etc. over the Internet through a bank, credit union or building society's secure website. This allows customers to do their banking outside of bank hours and from anywhere where Internet access is available. In most cases a web browser is utilized and any normal internet connection is suitable. No special software or hardware is usually needed.

Online banking usually offers such features as:

•Electronic bill payment
•Funds transfer between a customer's own checking and savings accounts, or to another customer's account
•Investment purchase or sale
•Loan applications and transactions, such as repayments

There are a growing number of so-called virtual banks that operate exclusively online. These online banks have low costs compared to traditional banks and so they often offer higher interest rates

Security token devices

Protection through single password authentication, as is the case in most secure Internet shopping sites, is not considered secure enough for personal online banking applications in some countries.

Some customers avoid online banking as they perceive it as being too vulnerable to fraud. The security measures employed by most banks can never be completely safe, but in practice the number of fraud victims due to online banking is very small. This is probably due to the fact that a relatively small number of people use internet banking compared with the total number of banking customers world wide. Indeed, conventional banking practices may be more prone to abuse by fraudsters than online banking.