The Bank of Finland (Finnish: Suomen Pankki, Swedish: Finlands Bank) is the Finnish member of the Eurosystem and has been the monetary authority for Finland from 1865 to 1998, issuing the Finnish 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, having been originally created in 1811-1812 as the Office of Exchange, Lending, and Deposits of the Grand Duchy of Finland (Finnish: 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.
