View source for Bank of Finland

{{Short description|Central Bank of Finland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox Central bank
| logo = Suomen Pankki logo.svg
| image = BankofFinlandSuomenPankkiFinlandsBank.jpg
| bank_name_in_local = Suomen Pankki <small>{{in lang|fi}}</small><br/>Finlands Bank <small>{{in lang|sv}}</small>
| ownership = 100% [[state ownership]]<ref name="dnbinfo">{{cite web |last1=Weidner |first1=Jan |title=The Organisation and Structure of Central Banks |url=https://d-nb.info/1138787981/34 |website=Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek|year=2017|format=PDF}}</ref>
| headquarters = [[Helsinki]]
| established = 1 March 1812
| president = [[Olli Rehn]]
| leader_title = Governor
| bank_of = [[Finland]]
| currency = 
| currency_iso = 
| reserves = 6 230 million USD<ref name="dnbinfo"/>
<!--DO NOT add info on currency, rates, printer or mints, as these are controlled by ECB -->
| website = [https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/ suomenpankki.fi/en]
| preceded = 
| succeeded = [[European Central Bank]] (1999)<sup>1</sup>
| footnotes = <sup>1</sup> The Bank of Finland still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB.
}}
The '''Bank of Finland''' ({{langx|fi|Suomen Pankki}}, {{langx|sv|Finlands Bank}}) is the [[National central bank (Eurosystem)|national central bank]] for [[Finland]] within the [[Eurosystem]]. It was the Finnish [[central bank]] from 1865 to 1998, issuing the [[Finnish markka|markka]]. It views itself as the fourth oldest surviving central bank in the world, after Sweden's [[Riksbank]], the [[Bank of England]], and the [[Bank of France]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/suomen_pankki/tehtavat/Pages/history.aspx?hl=history|title=History|work=Bank of Finland|access-date=28 October 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028111153/http://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/suomen_pankki/tehtavat/Pages/history.aspx?hl=history|archive-date=28 October 2014}}</ref> having been originally created in 1811-1812 as the '''Office of Exchange, Lending, and Deposits of the Grand Duchy of Finland''' ({{langx|fi|Waihetus-, Laina- ja Depositioni-Contori Suomen Suuren-ruhtinaanmaassa}}) before taking its current name in 1840. Unlike many other longstanding central banks, it has always been government-owned.

==History==
[[File:Bank of Finland strong box.jpg|thumb|Bank of Finland strong box which moved to Helsinki with the bank when it relocated from Turku]]
[[File:Sederholmin talo.jpg|thumb|[[Sederholm House]] in [[Helsinki]], the Bank's seat from 1819 to 1824]]
[[File:Valtioneuvoston linna.jpg|thumb|[[Government Palace (Finland)|Government Palace]] in Helsinki, the Bank's home from 1824 until relocation to its current building in 1883]]
[[File:Snellman Statue Helsinki.jpg|thumb|The Bank's current head office completed in 1883, with statue of [[Johan Vilhelm Snellman|J.V. Snellman]] by sculptor [[Emil Wikström]] in front]]

===Russian Empire===
{{See also|Bank Polski}}

In 1809, the [[Russian Empire]] annexed Finland and made it a [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Grand Duchy]] with its own administrative structure. One aim of the new authorities was to sever Finland's previous economic integration with [[Sweden]], including the use of the [[Swedish riksdaler]] as currency. To that effect, the Office of Exchange, Lending, and Deposits was chartered on {{date|1811/12/12}} and established on {{date|1812/03/01}} in [[Turku]] by [[Alexander I of Russia]], partly modeled on the [[Sveriges Riksbank|Bank of Sweden]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqGoDQAAQBAJ|title=The Emergence of Modern Central Banking from 1918 to the Present|first1=Carl-L.|last1=Holtfrerich|first2=Jaime|last2=Reis|date=5 December 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781351890779|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Wäxel- Låne och Depositions-Contoiret i Stor-Furstendömet Finland |trans-title=Exchange, Loan and Deposit Office in the Grand Duchy of Finland |url=http://www.histdoc.net/historia/pankki.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913003209/http://www.histdoc.net/historia/pankki.html |archive-date=13 September 2017 |website=histdoc.net |language=sv}} – [[Imperial ordinance]] by [[Alexander I of Russia]], 20 November 1811 ''([http://www.histdoc.net/history/ru/pankki.htm in Russian])''</ref> It started operations in August 1812. It was owned and controlled by the Grand Duchy's government, but from the start had its own capital and balance sheet. The Grand Duchy government was usually in surplus and did not use the Office to finance itself, allowing it to extend credit to the Finnish economy instead.{{R|Tarkka|p=2}} It issued [[banknote]]s denominated in [[ruble]]s and [[kopeck]]s and provided credit to local landowners and merchants.<ref name=Seppo>{{citation |url=https://www.bis.org/review/r141114d.htm |date={{date|2014/10/23}} |author=Seppo Honkapohja |title=Bank of Finland's 200 years}}</ref> Its design was inspired by Russian Secretary of State [[Mikhail Speransky]], whose plans to create a similar institution for Russia itself were thwarted by the [[French invasion of Russia]] in mid-1812.<ref name=Tarkka>{{citation |url=https://www.academia.edu/39698382/The_Evolution_of_the_Monetary_System_of_the_Grand_Duchy_of_Finland |title=The Evolution of the Monetary System of the Grand Duchy of Finland |publisher=Bank of Finland |location=Helsinki |year=2010 |author=Juha Tarkka}}</ref>{{rp|3}}

In 1819 the institution relocated to [[Helsinki]]. Its efforts to displace the Swedish currency were only partly successful, however, until both Sweden (in 1834) and Russia (in 1839) returned to the [[silver standard]]. In 1840, the remaining riksdaler banknotes in Finland were withdrawn from circulation and substituted by rubles, and the withdrawn riksdaler notes were exchanged for silver at the Riksbank in Stockholm. This allowed the Bank of Finland (which took that name in 1840<ref name=Seppo/>) to accumulate a significant metallic reserve, start discounting bills of exchange, and generally become much larger and more liquid in the 1840s, in contrast to the Russian [[State Commercial Bank of the Russian Empire|State Commercial Bank]] and other Russian public banks of the time.{{R|Tarkka|p=3}} The Bank soon opened its first branches in Turku and [[Vaasa]].<ref name=Seppo/> From then on, Russian currency-denominated notes became the dominant means of payment in the Grand Duchy, and the Bank of Finland's banknotes represented less than one percent of all banknotes circulating in the Russian Empire, thus Finland had effectively no monetary autonomy. Consequently, Finland suffered from the Russian monetary disorder associated with the [[Crimean War]] and its financially disastrous aftermath. The convertibility of its banknotes to silver was again restricted from April 1854.{{R|Tarkka|p=4}}

Requests for greater protection from Russian monetary vagaries developed in parallel with the Russian efforts at monetary stabilization, including the establishment of the [[State Bank of the Russian Empire]] in 1860 and subsequent reforms initiated by finance minister [[Michael von Reutern]]. On {{date|1860/04/04}}, [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] authorized the Bank of Finland to issue its own denomination, the [[Finnish markka]], defined as a quarter of the Russian paper ruble (and thus nearly equal in value with the [[French franc]] at the time).{{R|Tarkka|p=5}} In 1865, the Bank of Finland finally secured monetary policy autonomy when Finnish Senator [[Johan Vilhelm Snellman]] obtained from Alexander the right to keep the markka linked to the silver standard irrespective of the ruble's situation, which was implemented in March 1866. From then on, the Bank of Finland effectively set its own [[monetary policy]], making the Grand Duchy a separate currency zone from the rest of the Russian Empire, with the markka fluctuating in the range of 2.79 to 3.60 to the ruble between 1866 and 1875.{{R|Tarkka|p=6}}

In 1868, the ownership and oversight of the Bank was transferred from Finland's executive [[Senate of Finland|Senate]] to its recently revived legislative [[Diet of Finland|Diet]] (from 1906, the [[Parliament of Finland]]), thus strengthening its independence and accountability along the lines adopted by Sweden. To reflect the Bank's new institutional position, plans were made to move it away from its location in the southern wing of the [[Government Palace (Finland)|Senate Building]] in central Helsinki. The bank purchased a nearby plot of land in 1875 and held a design competition in 1876, which was won by Balto-German architect [[Ludwig Bohnstedt]]. The new building's construction started in 1878 and was completed in 1883.<ref name=Taide>{{cite web |website=Taide.Art |url=https://taide.art/articles/x1DvA9fa3UmG7mgC3eyIcg/-The-main-building-of-the-Bank-of-Finland |year=2024 |title=The main building of the Bank of Finland}}</ref>

In 1876, Alexander II assented to Finland's shift from silver to the [[gold standard]].{{R|Tarkka|p=7}} This was implemented in July 1878, when the Bank of Finland unilaterally joined the [[Latin Monetary Union]], a stance it kept until the outbreak of [[World War I]].<ref name=Seppo/> Meanwhile, the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russo-Turkish War]] had again plunged Russia into monetary turmoil, and the ruble remained only partly convertible into markka (coins in small quantities). Even after Russia joined the gold standard in 1897, an imperial decree issued in 1904 restored the legal tender status of Russian ruble gold coins in Finland, but was never implemented because of the [[Russo-Japanese War]].{{R|Tarkka|p=8-9}}

===Independent Finland===

Shortly after the [[independence of Finland]] in late 1917, the [[Finnish Civil War|civil war]] erupted. The [[Red Guards (Finland)|Red Guards]] occupied the Bank of Finland's head office together with other strategic points of Helsinki in late January 1918 and secured control of the printing presses. The bank's professional staff refused to obey them, however, and the gold reserves had been precautionarily removed to the branch in [[Kuopio]] in Northern Finland;<ref>{{cite web |website=Bank of Finland |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/bank-of-finland-1918-exhibition/occupation-of-the-bank-of-finlands-head-office/ |title=Occupation of the Bank of Finland’s head office}}</ref> The Reds tried to seize the reserves in Kuopio by force in early February, but withdrew after a weeklong battle.<ref>{{cite web |website=Bank of Finland |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/bank-of-finland-1918-exhibition/events-around-the-branches-kuopio/ |title=Events around the branches: Kuopio}}</ref> 

Red leader [[Anton Huotari]] became the chair of the Executive Board in Helsinki,<ref>{{cite web |website=Bank of Finland |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/bank-of-finland-1918-exhibition/organisation-of-the-red-administration/ |title=Organisation of the Red administration}}</ref> in competition to governor {{ill|Clas von Collan|fi|Clas von Collan}}, who remained in [[Stockholm]] during the civil war, and the other Executive Board members who stayed with the White government in [[Vaasa]]. The White side remained in control of the gold reserves, half of the branch network in Finland, and foreign assets, but suffered from a cash shortage as it had no capacity to print banknotes.<ref>{{cite web |website=Bank of Finland |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/bank-of-finland-1918-exhibition/the-whites-financial-organisation-during-the-war/ |title=The Whites’ financial organisation during the war}}</ref> The German troops fighting the [[Battle of Helsinki]] eventually retook control of the head office on {{date|1918/04/13}}, and the Bank of Finland reopened for business on {{date|1918/04/22}}.<ref>{{cite web |website=Bank of Finland |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/bank-of-finland-1918-exhibition/reopening-of-the-head-office-and-the-subsequent-fate-of-the-occupiers/ |title=Reopening of the head office and the subsequent fate of the occupiers}}</ref>

After these dramatic events, the Bank of Finland kept facing high inflation, but eventually managed to stabilize the markka in 1923 at about ten percent of its prewar gold value. It returned to the [[gold standard]] in 1926, but floated again in the wake the [[European banking crisis of 1931]]. In the spring of 1933, it pegged the markka to the [[pound sterling]]. During the [[interwar period]], the Bank acquired great prestige in the new country, linked to the leadership of its longstanding governor [[Risto Ryti]] who became [[Prime Minister of Finland]] in December 1939 and [[President of Finland|President]] a year later in the midst of the [[Interim Peace]].<ref name=Seppo/>

The Bank's head office building was damaged by Soviet bombing during the [[Continuation War]] air raids of 1944.<ref name=Taide/> After [[World War II]] and a renewed inflationary episode until the early 1950s, the Bank of Finland managed the country's regime of [[financial repression]], then liberalization in the 1980s. The markka was devalued on multiple occasions until finally floating in September 1992.<ref name=Seppo/>

New practices and technologies led the Bank of Finland to phase out its local branch network, starting with closing the [[Hämeenlinna]] branch in 1963. In the years 1991–1994, eight other branches were closed, leaving only Turku, [[Tampere]], [[Kuopio]], [[Oulu]] and [[Vantaa]] in operation. The Turku branch was closed in 2007, those in Tampere and Kuopio in 2012, and the Oulu branch in 2019.

Following the [[1990s Finnish banking crisis]], financial supervision was reorganized in Finland with the creation of the [[Rahoitustarkastus]] (Rata) in 1993, an independent banking supervisor which is part of the Bank of Finland albeit with its own separate governance. In 2009, the [[Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority]] was formed by merging Rata with the previously separate insurance supervisor.

At the start of [[Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union|Economic and Monetary Union]], Bank of Finland Governor [[Sirkka Hämäläinen]] joined the inaugural [[Executive Board of the European Central Bank]] on {{date|1998/06/01}}, becoming its first female member.<ref name=Seppo/>

<gallery>
File:Bank of Finland, Helsinki - DSC05358.JPG|Helsinki head office extension designed by {{ill|Harry W. Schreck|fi}} in the late 1950s<ref name=Taide/>
File:Suomen Pankin talo Kotka 1.jpg|Former branch in [[Kotka]]
File:Kajaaninkatu 8 Oulu 20110624 02.jpg|Former branch in [[Oulu]]
File:Sortvala - Pankki.jpg|Former branch in [[Sortavala]], now in Russia
File:Suomen Pankin talo Tampere.jpg|{{ill|Bank of Finland building (Tampere){{!}}Former branch|fi|Suomen Pankin talo (Tampere)}} in [[Tampere]]
File:SuomenPankkiTurku.jpg|Former branch in [[Turku]]
File:Suomen Pankin rakennus Viipuri.jpg|Former branch in Viipuri, now [[Vyborg]], Russia
</gallery>

==Mandate, ownership and organization==

The Bank of Finland is Finland's central bank and a member of the [[European System of Central Banks]] and of the [[Eurosystem]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/eurosystem-and-escb/ |title=Eurosystem and ESCB |work=Bank of Finland |access-date=24 March 2023 |archive-date=24 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324190250/https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/eurosystem-and-escb/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is Finland's monetary authority, and is responsible for the country's currency supply and foreign exchange reserves.

The Bank of Finland is owned by the [[Republic of Finland]], and governed by the [[Parliament of Finland|Finnish Parliament]] through the Parliamentary Supervisory Council and the Board of the bank. The Board is responsible for the administration of the bank, and the Parliamentary Supervisory Council for supervising the administration and activities of the bank and for other statutory tasks. The bank is governed under the provisions of the Act on the Bank of Finland, passed in 1998.

The bank had a staff of about 380 persons in 2017.<ref name="org">{{cite web |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/fi/suomen-pankki/organisaatio/ |title=Organisaatio |trans-title=Organization |access-date=14 April 2017 |work=Bank of Finland |language=fi}}</ref>

The highest official in the bank is the Governor who also chairs the board. Members of the Board {{as of|2018|8|alt=in August 2018}} were [[Olli Rehn]] (Governor), {{ill|Marja Nykänen|fi|Marja Nykänen}} (Deputy Governor) and {{ill|Tuomas Välimäki|fi|Tuomas Välimäki}}.<ref name="org"/>

==The Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies==

{{ill|The Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies|fi|Suomen Pankin nousevien talouksien tutkimuslaitos (BOFIT)}} (BOFIT) is the Bank of Finland's research institute specializing in emerging economies, focusing mainly on monitoring and analyzing the economic development in Russia and China and conducting related academic research. It was created in 1991, and derives its name from the Bank of Finland (BOF) and the Finnish name {{lang|fi|idäntutkimus}} (IT) meaning Eastern Studies.<ref>{{cite web |website=Bank for International Settlements |author=Olli Rehn |title=Remarks - Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies' (BOFIT) 30th Anniversary Dinner |date={{date|2021/11/9}} |url=https://www.bis.org/review/r211217h.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |website=Bank of Finland |title=BOFIT |access-date={{date|2024/10/12}} |url=https://www.bofit.fi/en/bofit/}}</ref>

==Leadership==
===Governors===
* {{ill|Claes Johan Edelsköld|fi}} 1812–1816
* {{ill|Carl Johan Idestam|fi}} 1817–1820
* {{ill|Otto Herman Lode|fi}} 1820–1827
* Johan Gustaf Winter 1827–1841
* {{ill|Carl Wilhelm Trapp|fi}} 1841–1853
* {{ill|Axel Ludvig Born|fi}} 1853–1856
* Alex Federley 1853–1854
* {{ill|Robert von Trapp|fi}} 1854–1856
* {{ill|Frans Ivar Edelheim|fi}} 1856–1858
* Wilhelm Blidberg 1858–1861
* Carl Isak Björkman 1862–1866
* {{ill|Victor von Haartman|fi}} 1866–1870
* {{ill|August Florin|fi}} 1870–1875
* {{ill|Gösta von Troil|fi}} 1875–1884
* {{ill|Gustaf Robert Alfred Charpentier|fi}} 1884–1897
* [[Theodor Wegelius]] 1898–1906
* {{ill|Clas von Collan|fi|Clas von Collan}} 1907–1918
* [[Otto Stenroth]] 1918–1923
* [[August Ramsay]] 1923–1924
* [[Risto Ryti]] 1923–1940
* [[Johan Wilhelm Rangell]] 1943–1944
* [[Risto Ryti]] 1944–1945
* [[Sakari Tuomioja]] 1945–1955
* [[Rainer von Fieandt]] 1955–1957
* [[Klaus Waris]] 1957–1967
* [[Mauno Koivisto]] 1968–1982
* [[Ahti Karjalainen]] 1982–1983
* [[Rolf Kullberg]] 1983–1992
* [[Sirkka Hämäläinen]] 1992–1998
* [[Matti Vanhala]] 1998–2004 (retired early due to illness)
* [[Erkki Liikanen]] 2004–2018
* [[Olli Rehn]] 2018–<ref>{{Cite web |last=Finland |first=Bank of |title=Board Members in the history of the Bank of Finland |url=https://www.suomenpankki.fi/en/bank-of-finland/art-and-history/Board-Members-in-the-history-of-the-Bank-of-Finland/ |access-date=2025-11-03 |website=Bank of Finland |language=en}}</ref>

===Chairs of the Parliamentary Supervisory Council===
* [[Erik von Frenckell]]
* [[Juho Niukkanen]]
* [[Veikko Kokkola]] 
* [[Juha Rihtniemi]] (−1971)
* [[Harri Holkeri]] (1971–1979)
* [[Matti Jaatinen]] (1979–1987)
* [[Mauri Miettinen]] (1987–1990)
* [[Erkki Pystynen]] (1990–1991)
* [[Pentti Mäki-Hakola]] (1991–1995)
* [[Sauli Niinistö]] (1995)
* [[Ilkka Kanerva]] (1995–2003)
* [[Mauri Pekkarinen]] (2003)
* [[Olavi Ala-Nissilä]] (2003–2006)
* [[Mari Kiviniemi]] (2006–2007)
* [[Seppo Kääriäinen]] (2007–2008)
* [[Timo Kalli]] (2008–2011)
* [[Ben Zyskowicz]] (2011–2015)
* [[Matti Vanhanen]] (2015–2019)
* [[Antti Lindtman]] (2019–present)

==See also==
{{Portal|Banks}}
* [[Economy of Finland]]
* [[Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority]]
* [[List of central banks]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Bank of Finland}}
* {{in lang|fi|sv|en}} [http://www.bof.fi/eng/ Bank of Finland official site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051222160020/http://www.kerailija.net/postimerkkiluettelo2/1961/594.php Postage stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Bank of Finland] 1811–1961
* [https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fi&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibanjabic.info%2F All the Finnish BIC-codes and an IBAN counter for all Finnish banks]

{{coord|60.17121|N|24.95246|E|region:FI_type:landmark|display=title}}

{{Finland topics}}
{{Central banks by country}}
{{Central banks of the European Union}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bank of Finland}}
[[Category:Banks of Finland]]
[[Category:European System of Central Banks|Finland]]
[[Category:Eurosystem|Finland]]
[[Category:Central banks|Finland]]
[[Category:Banks established in 1812]]
[[Category:1812 establishments in Finland]]
[[Category:Kruununhaka]]
[[Category:Banks of the Russian Empire]]