Bank of Finland regional office in Turku to cease operations

Releases Press release number 17 Thursday 3 May 2007, 12:00 AM
The Bank of Finland’s regional office in Turku will cease its operations at the end of 2007, at the latest. The office may be closed earlier on, in the autumn, if the parties responsible for currency supply in the region are prepared to implement the new distribution practice. According to the currency supply development plan drawn up in the Bank of Finland, the prerequisites for the continuance of operations in the Turku regional office no longer exist.

The volume of cash that has passed through the Turku office has decreased in recent years and is not sufficient to fully employ the office’s six employees. Maintenance of the services and modernisation of practices would require considerable investment in property and equipment.

The Turku office is one of the Bank of Finland’s five regional offices, which together are responsible for the provision of wholesale services relating to currency supply to banks and other parties to currency distribution.

‘The Turku office is the smallest of the Bank of Finland’s regional offices and has not been running at full capacity. The grounds for continuing the office’s operations have now been studied thoroughly, but there are no economical or practical prerequisites for the continuance of operations. The closing of the office does not require the dismissal of any staff members, said Deputy Governor Matti Louekoski, the member of the Bank of Finland Board responsible for currency supply.

The Bank of Finland seeks to ensure that the closing of the Turku office would not adversely affect currency supply services to customers in south-west Finland. Corresponding services can be arranged by expanding the storage system and by using the Bank’s regional offices in Vantaa and Tampere.


For further information, please contact:
Matti Louekoski, Deputy Governor of the Board of the Bank of Finland, tel. +358 10 831 2005