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Central Bank of Iceland

Coordinates: 64°08′56″N 21°55′55″W / 64.14889°N 21.93194°W / 64.14889; -21.93194
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Central Bank of Iceland
Seðlabanki Íslands
HeadquartersKalkofnsvegur 1, Reykjavík
Established7 April 1961 (1961-04-07)
Ownership100% state ownership[1]
GovernorÁsgeir Jónsson
Central bank ofIceland
CurrencyIcelandic króna
ISK (ISO 4217)
Reserves4.790 billion USD[1]
Preceded byLandsbanki Íslands
Websitecb.is (in English)
sedlabanki.is (in Icelandic)
Iceland bonds had an Inverted yield curve in 2008
  10 year bonds
  5 year bonds
  2 year bonds

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.

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

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# Governor Took office Left office Tenure length
1 Jóhannes Nordal 1961 1993 31–32 years
2 Jón G. Maríasson 1961 1967 5–6 years
3 Vilhjálmur Þór 1961 1964 2–3 years
4 Sigtryggur Klemensson 1966 1971 4–5 years
5 Davíð Ólafsson 1967 1986 18–19 years
6 Svanbjörn Frímannsson 1971 1973 1–2 years
7 Guðmundur Hjartarson 1974 1984 9–10 years
8 Tómas Árnason 1985 1993 7–8 years
9 Geir Hallgrímsson 1986 1990 3–4 years
10 Birgir Ísleifur Gunnarsson 1991 2005 13–14 years
11 Jón Sigurðsson 1993 1994 0–1 years
12 Steingrímur Hermannsson 1994 1998 3–4 years
13 Finnur Ingólfsson 2000 2002 1–2 years
14 Ingimundur Friðriksson 2002 2003 0–1 years
15 Jón Sigurðsson 2003 2006 2–3 years
16 Eiríkur Guðnason 1994 2009 14–15 years
17 Davíð Oddsson 2005 2009 3–4 years
18 Ingimundur Friðriksson 2006 2009 2–3 years
19 Svein Harald Øygard 2009 2009 0 years
20 Már Guðmundsson 2009 2019 9–10 years
21 Ásgeir Jónsson 2019 Incumbent 4–5 years

Monetary reform

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See also: Money creation and 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

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  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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).
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64°08′56″N 21°55′55″W / 64.14889°N 21.93194°W / 64.14889; -21.93194

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