Heads of department appointed at the Bank of Finland

The practice at the Bank of Finland is that appointments to key positions within the Bank are for a fixed term, although employment remains permanent. In accordance with this, the Board of the Bank of Finland has made the following appointments as Heads of the respective Departments, at its meeting on 12 January 2010. The appointments will be valid from 1 March 2010:

The new Head of Monetary Policy and Research department will be Tuomas Saarenheimo, PhD (Pol.Soc.), who is currently Advisor to the Board and Head of Monetary policy Analysis and Preparation Process, within the same department. As part of his current responsibilities, he has been a member of the European System of Central Banks' (ESCB) Monetary Policy Committee. During his employment with the Bank, Tuomas Saarenheimo has also been seconded to the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C. as Executive Director for the Nordic Baltic countries as well as working as a national expert for the European Commission in Brussels. Saarenheimo's appointment is until 31 August 2014.

The new Head of Banking Operations department will be Licentiate Harri Lahdenperä, who currently holds the position of Head of Office and Head of Implementation of Monetary Policy and Liquidity Analysis Process in the same department. Previously, Harri Lahdenperä has held several positions within the Bank of Finland including being a member of the ESCB's Market Operations Committee. Additionally, he has worked as Senior Economist at the European Monetary Institute in Frankfurt and as Economist at the European Commission in Brussels. Lahdenperä's appointment is until 31August 2014. The present Head of Banking Operations department, Pentti Pikkarainen, will continue at the Bank of Finland as Principal Advisor.

Antti Suvanto, PhD (Pol. Soc.) has been appointed the new Head of the General Secretariat department, replacing Kjell Peter Söderlund, who is due to retire from the Bank's service on 1 March 2010. Antti Suvanto is presently Head of Monetary Policy and Research department and before that has held a number of managerial positions at the Bank of Finland. As an integral part of his work for the Bank, Suvanto has been a member of the ESCB Monetary Policy Committee, amongst other positions. Mr Suvanto has earlier held the position of Financial Counsellor to Finland's Permanent Delegation to the European Union in Brussels, Economist at the OECD in Paris and at ETLA (The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy) and for the Association of Savings Banks in Finland. Antti Suvanto's appointment is until 31 August 2012. Mika Pösö, Head of Communications, has been appointed Suvanto's Deputy.

For more information, please contact the Bank of Finland, Communications, +358 10 831 2626.