ABSTRACT
The present central banks of Sweden, the Riksbank, and of Finland, Suomen Pankki, emerged as a result of a long process. The functions defining a modern central bank such as being a monopoly note issuer, a lender of last resort and a framer of monetary policy evolved slowly over time in Sweden and Finland. Central banking in the two countries displays great similarities, primarily due to an influence from British as well as continental central banking in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
