Czech banking and finance glossary: terms used by banks

A Czech bank transfer asks for more than a foreign one. Besides the amount and the recipient, the form wants a variabilní symbol, sometimes a konstantní and a specifický one too, and an account number that ends in a slash and four digits. Anyone arriving from an IBAN-only system tends to treat these fields as optional. Sometimes they are. Sometimes the money arrives and nobody knows who sent it.

The glossary below is grouped by what you do with the words. It describes usage and is not financial advice. Rates, fees and limits change, so the final word on each belongs to your bank or the Czech National Bank.

Accounts and identifiers

Bankovní účet is a bank account and běžný účet a current account. Spořicí účet is a savings account, termínovaný vklad a term deposit, zůstatek the balance and výpis the statement.

Číslo účtu is the domestic account number: an optional prefix (předčíslí), the main number, a slash and a four-digit kód banky (bank code). Each bank has its own code. IBAN is the international form, beginning CZ, and the one to give anyone paying you from abroad. SWIFT or BIC identifies the bank itself in international payments.

Majitel účtu is the account holder. A disponent is someone authorised to operate the account, perhaps a spouse or a company officer. Disponibilní zůstatek is what you can actually spend, which differs from the balance while payments are pending. Pobočka is a branch and bankomat a cash machine.

Making payments

Platba is a payment, převod a transfer and příkaz k úhradě a payment order. Trvalý příkaz is a standing order. Inkaso is a direct debit collected by the payee with your consent (souhlas s inkasem). Okamžitá platba is an instant payment, available between most Czech banks and now routine.

SEPA is the European system for euro payments. Czechia is in the EU but keeps the koruna (Kč, CZK), so domestic payments are in koruna and SEPA covers euro transfers. Paying in one currency from an account held in the other triggers a conversion at the bank's kurz (exchange rate), published in a kurzovní lístek. The gap between buy and sell rates is where banks earn their money, and it often matters more than the headline fee.

Variabilní symbol (VS) is a numeric reference of up to ten digits, usually an invoice or order number. Konstantní symbol (KS) and specifický symbol (SS) are two further reference fields, much less used now. When a utility or landlord gives you payment instructions, copy the VS exactly: their system reads it automatically.

Zpráva pro příjemce is the free-text message to the payee. Poplatek is a fee, and správa účtu the monthly account charge.

Cards and digital banking

Platební karta is a payment card, debetní means debit and kreditní credit. Bezkontaktní platba is a contactless payment; above a per-transaction limit you are asked for the PIN, and the limit is set by your bank (as of 2026; check your bank). Internetové bankovnictví is online banking and mobilní bankovnictví the app.

Bankovní identita is the Czech scheme that lets your bank vouch for your identity to government and commercial services, so you need no separate login. It sits alongside the datová schránka, the official electronic mailbox for dealing with authorities. Dvoufaktorové ověření is two-factor authentication.

Borrowing

Úvěr is a loan and půjčka the everyday word for one. A hypoteční úvěr is a mortgage, secured on property; kontokorent is an overdraft. Splátka is an instalment, splatnost the due date, jistina the principal and úrok interest.

RPSN (roční procentní sazba nákladů) is the annual percentage rate of charge. Consumer-credit rules require lenders to state it, and it is the number to compare, because it includes fees as well as interest. Úroková sazba is the interest rate alone. Zástava is collateral, ručitel a guarantor and bonita the lender's view of your creditworthiness. Registr dlužníků is a credit register: lenders check it before approving a loan, and a missed payment can end up there.

Bank staff are bound by rules on advice and disclosure, but they are also selling a product. For a decision about your own borrowing, consult an independent adviser.

Supervision and the central bank

Česká národní banka (ČNB) sets monetary policy and supervises banks, insurers and other financial institutions. Repo sazba is its main policy rate, the two-week repo rate, which feeds into rates across the economy and is cited in several laws. Měnová politika is monetary policy and inflační cíl the inflation target.

Garanční systém finančního trhu is the Financial Market Guarantee System, which protects deposits if a bank fails, at the EU-harmonised level of the koruna equivalent of EUR 100,000 per depositor per bank (as of 2026; check the Czech National Bank). Obezřetnostní dohled is prudential supervision. Praní špinavých peněz is money laundering, and AML the rules behind the questions a bank asks when you open an account or make a large transfer.

Tax-related terms

Daňové přiznání is the tax return, DIČ the tax identification number and Finanční správa the Financial Administration. These, and the VAT vocabulary, live in the business and tax glossary.

A word missing here is probably in the ČNB's own English glossary. Your bank's fee schedule (sazebník poplatků) lists every charge in Czech and, usually, in English too.