The Board of the Bank of Finland has adopted these Rules of procedure of the Board of the Bank of Finland, on 6 October 2015, supplementing the Rules of procedure of the Bank of Finland adopted by the Parliamentary Supervisory Board on 19 November 1998.
1. Meetings of the Board
The Board shall be summoned by its chairman, or in the event that he/she is hindered from doing so, deputy chairman or the latter's deputy.
The Board shall convene on Tuesdays or Wednesdays at 9 am, unless the chairman of the Board has cancelled the meeting or changed the time of the meeting. The venue of the meeting shall be the Board's meeting room, unless otherwise specified in the invitation to the meeting.
2. Meeting schedule
A meeting schedule shall be made semi-annually in advance for the planning of the Board's meetings, to be followed during the planning period in preparing the agenda for individual meetings.
The Senior Secretarial Staff shall, under command of the chairman of the Board, attend to the drafting and updating of the meeting schedule. The secretarial staff shall request information from the departments well in advance of the planning period on issues to be discussed by the Board and the date of discussion, which must be approved by the member of the Board responsible for the relevant area. The chairman of the Board and the secretarial staff shall also be informed of any pending or upcoming issues that must be addressed in Board meeting or are otherwise far-reaching or significant for the operations of the Bank.
The chairman of the Board shall adopt the meeting schedule and any revisions to it made for special reasons. The Board shall discuss the meeting schedule on a quarterly basis. The secretarial staff shall see that the updated meeting schedule is communicated to the Board and the Bank's departments.
3. Agenda, meeting memorandum and other meeting material
The Chairman of the Board shall adopt a plan for the meeting of the Board based on the content of the agenda and requests for discussion presented by the members of the Board.
Issues on the agenda shall be divided in four categories: issues to be decided on, issues requiring a discussion of principles, issues to be recorded for information and seminar-type issues. The agenda shall specify, in addition to the issue, its presenter, the experts present and document material to be distributed. An issue outside the agenda may only be brought to discussion for a special reason and with the advance consent of the chairman of the Board.
A presentation memorandum in accordance with the adopted model and approved by the member of the Board responsible for the area must be made on every issue to be discussed, with the exception of seminar-type issues and issues addressed in the governing Council or General Council of the ECB, which clearly indicates the main content of the proposal for a decision and other issues requiring a statement by the Board with justifications and including communication. The presentation memorandum may be supplemented by other material relating to the issue to be discussed.
4. Participants
Meetings of the Board shall be attended by the members of the Board, Secretary to the Board, Head of Communications and experts assigned as participants.
Based on a decision by the Parliamentary Supervisory Council, a member of the Board shall be deputised by an Adviser to the Board or a Head of Department of the Bank of Finland in the order of seniority. A person designated as deputy member shall participate in the Board’s meetings and decision-making. The chairman of the Board shall notify the Parliamentary Supervisory Council of the deputy member.
Decision-making related to hearing of the personnel and other forms of cooperation are subject to the provisions in the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003) and the Cooperative Agreement of the Bank of Finland on the cooperation procedure.
As necessary, the Board may summon external persons to be heard as experts on a matter.
5. Presentation of matters and order of decision-making
Quorum requirements and decision-making in Board meetings have been provided for in Section 15, subsection 1 of the Act on the Bank of Finland (214/1998).
Presentation of issues in a Board meeting has been provided for in Section 3 of the Procedure of the Bank of Finland.
Decision-making shall follow the following order:
- The Board Member, to whom the administrative field of the issue belongs, presents the issue, after which a discussion is held where the presenter and experts answer any questions that may arise.
- Once the discussion has ended, the Chairman states the decision of the Board.
- If differences of opinion arise, the issue is decided on by vote. Dissenting opinions or the voting statement of the presenter of the issue or a Board Member left in the minority shall be recorded in the minutes for the meeting in which the issue is decided on.
Issues addressed in the Governing Council or General Council of the ECB shall, however, be discussed in deviation of the procedure above so that an actual presentation and proposal for a decision is not made, but a discussion is held over a stance proposal by the secretarial staff.
6. Communication of Board decisions and monitoring their implementation
The senior secretarial staff is generally in charge of communicating Board decisions. Decisions are communicated internally on the Bank's intranet pages and, as necessary, by special announcements or other means deemed appropriate. Each department shall ensure a more detailed communication of issues falling within their field of responsibility. The secretarial staff shall monitor and ensure that Board decisions are implemented appropriately or that other measures required by the decisions are taken.
7. Recording of Board decisions
The Board shall, as a rule, address and resolve issues falling within its competence in its meetings. Other means of decision making by the Board are provided for in Sections 1 and 2 of the Rules of procedure of the Bank of Finland. All decisions are recorded in the minutes of the Board's meeting, which also functions as a register of decisions. Issues and solutions with significance in terms of principles or otherwise made by virtue of powers delegated by the Board or by an external party with special reference to the operations of the Bank may also be recorded in the minutes.
The minutes are signed by the Chairman, or when he is prevented from doing so, by the chairman and secretary of the meeting, after the Board has approved the content of the minutes in its subsequent meeting.
8. Administration of Board meetings
The council of the Board shall administer the meetings of the Board, in accordance with more specific orders and guidelines provided by the chairman of the Board and the Head of the secretarial staff.
9. Delegation of Board's decisive powers
The Board may delegate its decision-making powers to one or more of its members or an official of the Bank. Delegation of a decision shall be explicit and contain provisions on how the use of delegated powers shall be reported and monitored.
10. Entry into force
These Rules of procedure enter into force on 6 October 2015 and repeal the Rules of procedure adopted on 23 April 2014.