Bank of Finland employees at work

I joined the Bank of Finland in summer 2010, as a system specialist, in other words, I am a fairly new employee of the Bank. I am a Telecommunications Engineer, but already early in my career, I specialized in server-related matters. My expertise in telecommunications has supported my work with servers and helped me to obtain an overall picture of server architecture.

 

Prior to joining the Bank of Finland, I worked for eight years in various IT organisations in the private sector. The Bank of Finland’s IT environment is demanding in terms of data security, and it provides compelling challenges even for the experienced professional. A complex IT environment requires special skills, and the nature of the Bank’s operations demands high-level service availability. Services are designed to be fault tolerant, and the Bank applies the latest technical solutions.

 

I enjoy my work at the Bank of Finland. I am able to influence the direction of competence development. Currently, the bulk of my time is taken up by the maintenance of the email system and the Swift banking system. With the help of skilled colleagues, learning new things has gone smoothly. The Bank takes excellent care of the health and wellness of its staff and provides a variety of hobby activities, in terms of both culture and physical training. The Bank aims to keep the level of staff competence high, which I consider important. I value the Bank as a stable employer.

 

I joined the Bank of Finland nearly a decade ago immediately after graduating from the University of Jyväskylä. I have thoroughly enjoyed working at the Bank.

I have been able to specialise in the field of my choice – the analysis of global economic developments, from various perspectives. First, I monitored the Baltic countries’ road to EU membership, until the Bank of Finland, in the forefront of research institutes, saw the emergence of China into the group of major economies. Monitoring and studying the development of the Asian giant swept me away.

My career in monitoring China continued at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. There I was able to follow, first-hand, the preparation of international meetings and add my expertise to discussions between leading global economic decision-makers.

When I returned to the Bank of Finland from my leave of absence, I was encouraged, as part of our internal job rotation scheme, to expand my competence, this time towards the US economy and global economic developments in general. At the Monetary Policy and Research department, my task is to analyse and forecast economic developments from the perspective of euro area monetary policy. I also prepare Bank of Finland comments and statements for members of the Board, for use in the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and other international fora. 

The best things in my work are compelling colleagues, diverse tasks, and opportunities to develop my skills. I have improved the theoretical aspects of my work through post-graduate studies in economics, which I am finally about to complete. The Bank of Finland also encourages active participation in courses that, for my work, usually take place abroad, and hence provide an opportunity for international networking. My expert colleagues make sure that the daily discussions at our meetings are active and that expertise is valued.

 

I am currently on maternity leave, looking after our first-born, who arrived November 2011.

​  

I joined the Bank of Finland in 1985. My first position was a maternity leave substitute at the Foreign Financing department. I had freshly graduated from Helsinki Secretarial College and had had some temporary jobs. It was the time of the markka, and exchange control. Later, when I was working at the Financial Markets department, I experienced an unforgettable period in my working life when the Bank’s staff worked really long hours as the banking crisis hit the Finnish financial markets in the 1990s.

I wanted more international experience, and in 1996, I transferred to the Market Operations department (later to become the Banking Operations department). I’ve worked there for a long time now. Recently, I however was in a two-year job rotation at the General Secretariat, which assists the Board. The perspective shifted from department level to the level of the entire Bank and Eurosystem. The experience proved to be very useful when I returned to my ’home department’ in autumn 2010.

The Banking Operations department is responsible for eg investing the Bank of Finland’s financial assets (we have dealers and a back office, like commercial banks), Eurosystem monetary policy operations, market analysis and the functioning and development of the TARGET2 payment system. My current task is to assist my superiors and colleagues in developing human resources management, travel practices, international committee work in our field of responsibility, as well as projects and processes.

My work is independent and fun to do. Every day is different; my tasks and duties change and develop constantly, and so I am regularly faced with new challenges. The Bank has always had a positive attitude towards training, and it has been a joy to maintain and develop my competence. We are also allowed to speak our mind and propose issues to be developed, irrespective of position, because in a community of experts, a good idea is a good idea and so worth discussing.

I am fortunate to be able to fulfil myself in my work. For many of us, the working language is English, and working in an open-plan office does not give one the feeling of being a typical civil servant. I am happy to work in a youthful and international community.

Annamari Pajunen, Statistics Actuary, Financial Markets and Statistics department

 

I am a Statistics Actuary in the Financial Statistics division of the Financial Markets and Statistics department. My work involves compiling and developing MFI balance sheet, interest rate and country risk statistics. In practice, my work provides me an excellent opportunity to become thoroughly familiar with the securities and financial markets and the extensive field of statistics. Statistics and numbers have swept me away.

I have a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. I initially graduated from business college with a diploma in accounting, and later I studied, on the side, for the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration.

I joined the Bank of Finland in 2000. I had gained practical experience in statistics at Statistics Finland, where I worked prior to joining the Bank. At Statistics Finland, I compiled sectoral financial statement statistics on non-financial corporations and participated in the compilation of various more extensive customer-specific statistics. From this interesting field of work I transferred to the Bank of Finland, to similar duties involving MFI balance sheet statistics. In addition to MFIs, Statistics Finland is an important partner for me in the compilation of statistics. My work as part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) involves supplying statistics to the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Working at the Bank of Finland provides challenges, and continuous professional development is a prerequisite for the conduct of tasks. The best things in my work are the challenging tasks and pleasant colleagues.

 

 

I am Head of Forecasting at the Monetary Policy and Research department. Our division is responsible for forecasting and monitoring the Finnish economy as well as developing and maintaining macroeconomic forecast models. We prepare the Bank of Finland’s semiannual macroeconomic forecast and participate in preparation of the Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections. We also produce analysis and calculations on the Finnish economy and economic policy. The experience I have gained in economic forecasting and analysis, both at the Bank of Finland and at research institutes and financial-sector companies, has proven useful in my present job.

I have a doctorate in economics; my dissertation dealt with the macroeconomics of monetary union. At the turn of the century, I was a scholar at the University of Helsinki, and my first experience of working as an economist at the Bank of Finland was in the early years of the previous decade when I was a visiting scholar in monetary policy modelling projects. For three years I worked as an economist at the Pellervo Economic Research Institute, and in 2006, I returned to the Bank of Finland, to the position of economist in the Forecasting division. After a couple of years I transferred to Nordea Bank, where I worked as an economist, and then to OP-Pohjola Group, to the position of Chief Economist. I was head of the Macroeconomics and Financial Sector unit. In spring 2010, I returned to the Bank of Finland, to the position of Head of the Forecasting division.

An international working environment and the possibility to exert influence are important sources of motivation in my work. As Head of Division, I find it important to encourage the professional development of our experts and the development of processes. I value the skilled staff at the Bank of Finland, its working culture, and the possibility of dealing with issues of social importance.