Fio banka is a Czech bank based in Prague. It offers banking and investment services in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Fio started in 1993 as a securities-trading business. The company that became Fio banka was incorporated the following year and received a banking licence from the Czech National Bank in 2010.
The bank is owned by Fio holding. Petr Marsa and Romuald Kopún each own half of the holding company. Fio had around 1.6 million clients and CZK 345 billion in assets at the end of 2025.
History
Origins and securities trading Fio started in 1993, when a group of students and graduates associated with the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University began trading securities on RM-SYSTÉM. Fio, burzovní společnost, a.s. was incorporated on 31 August 1994 as a securities broker. It joined the Prague Stock Exchange in 1995.
A separate credit union, Fio, družstevní záložna, was established in 1996. The brokerage and credit union remained separate until Fio became a bank. Internet banking was introduced in April 1998.
Acquisition of RM-SYSTÉM In September 2006, the owners of Fio acquired RM-SYSTÉM, a Czech securities market, from J&T. The deal placed RM-SYSTÉM and Fio's brokerage business under common ownership.
RM-SYSTÉM also had a nationwide network of offices, which Fio began using for its banking services. In early 2007, Fio said it would offer banking services at more than 50 locations in the network. RM-SYSTÉM later became a regulated stock exchange and is a subsidiary of Fio banka.
Transformation into a bank Fio applied for a banking licence in June 2008. At the time, its banking and investment activities were divided between the credit union and the securities broker.
The Czech National Bank granted the licence on 5 May 2010. Fio then had almost 26,000 credit-union members and around 34,000 brokerage clients. On 1 September, the credit union's business was transferred to Fio banka, which began operating as a retail bank.
Slovakia Fio was already active in Slovakia through its investment business when it became a bank in 2010. It then opened a Slovak branch and added banking services. By September that year, it had three branches in the country. Further branches followed, along with mortgages and other retail banking products.
Operations Fio banka offers current and savings accounts, loans, mortgages and payment services. It also operates a securities-brokerage business with access to Czech and foreign markets.
The bank owns RM-SYSTÉM, a Czech stock exchange used by retail investors. In 2025, trading by individual investors through Fio reached CZK 238 billion.
Regulatory matters In October 2024, the Czech National Bank fined Fio banka CZK 9.5 million for shortcomings in its controls against money laundering and in compliance with international sanctions. The violations identified by the regulator occurred between 2019 and 2022. They included problems with customer risk assessments, internal controls and checks involving sanctioned persons.
Fio said it had addressed the problems identified by the regulator.
See also Banking in the Czech Republic List of banks in the Czech Republic
References
External links