The Origins and Nature of Scandinavian Central Banking

This book explores the formation and evolution of Scandinavian central banks. It begins by defining the nature of 'central banking' in general, before moving on to investigate how and when it became meaningful to regard today's Scandinavian central banks as such. It also explores how Scandinavian central banks have conformed to the defined ideals of 'central banks' over the last 100 years, clarifying the distinctions between commercial banks and central banks, and between central banks and departments of governments. The author shows how the outbreak of the Great War was the catalyst which fundamentally transformed the originally purely commercial banks into 'central banks'. The book also analyses how different the three Scandinavian central banks are, how these differences can be explained by the different political and economic circumstances surrounding their original formation, and the differences in the political environments in which they later developed.

Steffen Elkiær Andersen graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1972 before commencing a career as an economist, first as a staff economist at the Federation of Danish Industries, and then moving into banking, with positions at Danske Bank, Unibank, and HSH Nordbank where he was Chief Credit Officer in the Nordic area. He has written a number of publications in economics and finance, and writes various articles in international newspapers and magazines. His latest book was The Evolution of Nordic Finance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), which explored the birth and growth of financial institutions in the four Nordic countries from the mid-17th century to the recent banking crisis.