Central Bank of Iceland

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Central Bank of Iceland
Seðlabanki Íslands
Sedlabanki Islands.svg
HeadquartersKalkofnsvegur 1, Reykjavík
Established7 April 1961 (1961-04-07)
Ownership100% state ownership [1]
Governor Ásgeir Jónsson
Central bank of Iceland
Currency Icelandic króna
ISK (ISO 4217)
Reserves4.790 billion USD [1]
Preceded by Landsbanki Íslands
Website cb.is (in English)
sedlabanki.is (in Icelandic)
Iceland bonds had an Inverted yield curve in 2008
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Iceland bonds had an Inverted yield curve in 2008
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The Central Bank of Iceland (Icelandic : Seðlabanki Íslands) is the central bank or reserve bank of Iceland. It has served in this capacity since 1961, when it was created by an act of the Alþingi out of the central banking department of Landsbanki Íslands, which had the sole right of note issuance since 1927 and had conducted only limited monetary policy.

Contents

Seðlabanki Íslands is owned by the Icelandic government, and is administered by a governor and a seven-member supervisory board, elected by the country's parliament following each general election. [2] It has the sole right to issue notes and coins of Icelandic krónur and to manage the state's foreign currency reserves. The Central Bank Act of 1986 eliminated the ability of the Central Bank to regulate the interest rates of commercial banks and savings banks.

Though nominally independent, the Central Bank of Iceland was historically expected to follow the lead of the central government. In 2001, however, a floating exchange rate policy was introduced and since then the Central Bank has been empowered to adopt an inflation target and manage monetary policy so as to achieve price stability independent of the policies of the central government.

Governors

#GovernorTook officeLeft officeTenure length
1 Jóhannes Nordal 1961199331–32 years
2 Jón G. Maríasson 196119675–6 years
3 Vilhjálmur Þór 196119642–3 years
4 Sigtryggur Klemensson 196619714–5 years
5 Davíð Ólafsson 1967198618–19 years
6 Svanbjörn Frímannsson 197119731–2 years
7 Guðmundur Hjartarson 197419849–10 years
8 Tómas Árnason 198519937–8 years
9 Geir Hallgrímsson 198619903–4 years
10 Birgir Ísleifur Gunnarsson 1991200513–14 years
11 Jón Sigurðsson 199319940–1 years
12 Steingrímur Hermannsson 199419983–4 years
13 Finnur Ingólfsson 200020021–2 years
14 Ingimundur Friðriksson 200220030–1 years
15 Jón Sigurðsson 200320062–3 years
16 Eiríkur Guðnason 1994200914–15 years
17 Davíð Oddsson 200520093–4 years
18 Ingimundur Friðriksson 200620092–3 years
19 Svein Harald Øygard 200920090 years
20 Már Guðmundsson 200920199–10 years
21 Ásgeir Jónsson 2019Incumbent4–5 years

Monetary reform

In 2015, after the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, the government of Iceland considered "a revolutionary monetary proposal" to abolish private money creation and to end to fractional-reserve banking. [3] Similar to the Swiss Sovereign Money Initiative, this plan would remove the power of money creation from the commercial banks and give it to the Central Bank of Iceland. [3]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Weidner, Jan (2017). "The Organisation and Structure of Central Banks" (PDF). Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek.
  2. "Leadership and organisation of the Central Bank of Iceland". www.sedlabanki.is. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 Agence France-Presse, "Iceland looks at ending boom and bust with radical money plan", The Daily Telegraph , 31 March 2015 (page visited on 13 April 2018).

64°08′56″N21°55′55″W / 64.14889°N 21.93194°W / 64.14889; -21.93194