From Secrecy to Transparency – The Evolution of Banknote Communications

In looking at the evolution of central bank engagement with the public on banknotes, and what lessons can be learned, I will start with a few personal notes.

In 1981 the Board of the Bank of Finland (BoF) established a Theme Selection Committee with the mandate to propose a theme for the new Finnish note series scheduled to be issued in the mid- 1980s. This committee consisted mainly of external academic historians and art experts, and I was requested to prepare background material for it. I was working in the Bank’s monetary policy department at that time but was considered a sort of an expert in the history of money. The preparatory work led to my appointment as the Secretary of the Theme Selection and later Design Committee. Moreover, I became involved with many other tasks related to the introduction of the new series, including its communications, which was back then a new subject.