Eesti Pank

Seal

Eesti Pank (Estonian Bank) is the central bank of the Republic of Estonia. It was started in 1919. Before that there was a branch of the State Bank of the Russian Empire started in Tallinn in 1875. Eesti Pank took over its building. The bank organised printing the notes and coins of the Estonian mark. In 1928 the Estonian kroon took the place of the mark. The bank managed the new currency. It was on the gold standard. The bank had branches in other Estonian cities.

In 1940, Eesti Pank was nationalized and reorganized into the Estonian republican office of the State Bank of the Soviet Union Estonian kroons were changed for rubles.

In 1989 the Eesti Pank was started again as an independent issuing bank. It also gave operating licenses to the 42 commercial banks in Estonia.

At the beginning of 2011, Estonia was the seventeenth country to adopt the euro. The Eesti Pank became one of the central banks of the Eurozone. The purpose of Eesti Pank is to help maintain price stability in the euro area. The uniform monetary policy of the euro area helps to keep prices stable.