Towards central banking

During the 19th century the demand for credit from the business sector increased.  During this period Sweden had acquired a well-developed banking system with around 30 private banks. Skånes Enskilda Bank and Stockholms Enskilda Bank are two of the banks that were founded. In 1867 the Bank of the Estates of the Realm changed its name to Sveriges Riksbank.

Sveriges Riksbank became a central bank in the modern sense when it was granted a monopoly on issuing banknotes in the 1897 Riksbank Act. His Majesty the King had the right to appoint the Chairman of the board of directors, but Sveriges Riksbank was still an agency of the Riksdag.

Time axis

1820s  The first savings banks in Sweden.

1824 Proclamation for private banks.

1831  Skånes Enskilda Bank is founded.

1830s Mortgage institutions are introduced.

1834 Currency reform. Silver standard.

 
1844 Oscar I succeeds Karl XIV Johan.

1855

Currency reform; in the new decimal
system; the riksdaler riksmynt (rmt)
is subdivided into 100 öre.
 

1856 A.O.Wallenberg founds Stockholms
Enskilda Bank.

1857 Commercial crisis after the boom
associated with the Crimean war.

1859 Karl XV succeeds Oscar I.

1861 General Mortgage Bank founded.

1863 Skandinaviska Kredit AB is established.
A.W. Björck becomes the Estates’
Bank’s delegate for internal administration
(the first governor in the
modern sense).

1864 The Bank of England starts to use its
discount rate as a monetary policy
instrument. Sweden’s interest rate
ceiling is abolished for most kinds
of loan.

1866 The Riksdag is replaced by a
bicameral parliament.

1867 The Bank of the Estates of the Realm
is renamed Sveriges Riksbank
(National Bank of Sweden).

1868  A.W. Dufwa is appointed ‘governor’
of the Riksbank.

1871 Stockholms Handelsbank is founded.

1872 Oscar II succeeds Karl XV

1873 Gold standard. Scandinavian monetary
union. New currency unit, krona.

1875 Norway joins the Scandinavian
monetary union.

1878–9 International financial crisis.

1883  Johan Wolter Arnberg is appointed
‘governor’ of the Riksbank.

1890 The Baring crisis. The Riksbank uses
its discount rate for the first time.

1897  The Riksbank Act institutes the Bank
as the central bank of Sweden with an
exclusive right to issue bank notes.

1901 Karl Langenskiöld is appointed first
delegate (governor) of the Riksbank.

1906 The Riksbank moves into its new
building on Helgeandsholmen.

1907 Gustav V succeeds Oscar II.
 
1907–8 Financial crisis.

1912 Victor Moll is appointed first delegate
(governor) of the Riksbank.


CONTENT EXPERT
Picture on a letter General Secretariat

LAST REVIEWED
23/03/2009