
Norges Bank (, , ) is the
central bank
A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
of Norway. It is responsible for managing the
Government Pension Fund of Norway
The Government Pension Fund of Norway () is the sovereign wealth fund collective owned by the government of Norway. It consists of two entirely separate sovereign wealth funds: the Government Pension Fund Global (or Norges Bank Investment Mana ...
, which is the world's largest
sovereign wealth fund
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF), or sovereign investment fund, is a state-owned investment fund that invests in real and financial assets such as stocks, Bond (finance), bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as ...
, as well as the bank's own
foreign exchange reserves
Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, ...
.
History
The history of the central bank of Norway can be traced back to 1816, when, two years after the separation from Denmark and the union with Sweden, Norges Bank was established by an Act of the Storting (the Norwegian parliament) on 14 June. The bank then decided that the monetary unit was to be the speciedaler (rixdollar), divided into 120 skillings or five ort ("rigsort") of 24 skillings each.
The Money Act of 17 April 1875 discontinued the terms daler and skilling, and it was decided that the monetary unit should be a krone, divided into 100 øre. This was done to prepare for Norway's entry, on 16 October that year, into the
Scandinavian Monetary Union. This union had been established between Denmark and Sweden in 1873 on the recommendation of a joint commission (in which Norway participated) to establish a common Scandinavian coin based on gold. It meant that the other countries' coins were to be legal tender on the same basis as those struck at home. The union functioned until 1914; thereafter it lacked all practical significance, but was not formally abolished until 1972.
[
On 1 January 1897 the seat of Norges Bank was moved to Kristiania (Oslo) from ]Trondheim
Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...
, and in 1906 a new headquarters building on Bankplassen was opened - for 80 employees including the workers in the banknote printing plant.[
During the Second World War, the seat of Norges Bank was temporarily moved to London in 1940, in that the Norwegian government-in-exile established a new board. The bank's gold reserves were evacuated via Åndalsnes, Molde and Tromsø to London, and from there to New York and Ottawa. This gold and the bank's other currency reserves were under the control of the London board. At the same time, the bank continued its operations in Norway under the direction of the Nazis until the war was over and the London board stepped down. A commission of inquiry after the war concluded that the bank's Oslo management had taken a firm and correct attitude towards the Nazi authorities.][ In 1962, the Mint Supervisory Authority and the Royal Mint were transferred from the state to Norges Bank.][
In March 2025, Norges Bank Investment Management announced that it has acquired a 49% stake in two offshore wind farms under construction in Denmark and Germany from RWE for 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion). The purchase includes stakes in RWE's Nordseecluster and Thor wind projects, expected to have a combined capacity of 2.64 gigawatts, enough to power over 2.6 million households. The deal reduces RWE’s net cash investments by about 4 billion euros, while RWE will continue to handle construction and operation.]
Norges Bank Investment Management
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) is a separate branch of Norges Bank and is responsible for the management of the Government Pension Fund - Global. NBIM also manages Norges Bank's foreign exchange reserves
Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, ...
. NBIM invests the fund's assets and the foreign exchange reserves in international equities
Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion t ...
and fixed income
Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the pr ...
instruments, money market
The money market is a component of the economy that provides short-term funds. The money market deals in short-term loans, generally for a period of a year or less.
As short-term securities became a commodity, the money market became a compo ...
instruments and derivatives.
List of Central Bank Governors
The following is a list of past and present governors of the Norges Bank. The Act of 1892 gave the board a permanent chairman. In 1985 the term Executive Board was introduced, and the chairman was entitled Governor of the Central Bank, the following people have served as chairmen and governors.
* Karl Gether Bomhoff (1893–1920)
* Nicolai Rygg (1920–1946)
* Arnold C. Ræstad (head of the London branch 1940–1945)
* Gunnar Jahn (1946–1954)
* Erik Brofoss (1954–1970)
* Knut Getz Wold (1970–1985)
* Hermod SkÃ¥nland (1985–1993)
* Torstein Moland (1994–1995)
*Kjell Storvik
Kjell Storvik (born 20 November 1930) is a Norwegian economist and former Governor of the Central Bank of Norway.
He is a cand.oecon. by education. From 1977 to 1981 he was the vice president of the Norwegian Shipowners' Association. He was t ...
(1996–1998)
* Svein Gjedrem (1999–2010)
* Øystein Olsen (2011–2022)
* Ida Wolden Bache (2022–''present'')
London branch
* Arnold C. Ræstad (head of the London branch 1940–1945)
See also
*Economy of Norway
The economy of Norway is a Developed country, highly developed mixed economy with state-ownership in strategic areas. Although sensitive to global business cycles, the economy of Norway has shown robust growth since the start of the Industrial ...
*Norwegian krone
The krone (, currency sign, abbreviation: kr (also NKr for distinction); ISO 4217, code: NOK), plural ''kroner'', is the currency of the Kingdom of Norway (including List of possessions of Norway, overseas territories and dependencies). It was t ...
* Gold reserves of Norway
* List of central banks
This is a list of central banks.
Central banks by alphabetical order
This is a list of central banks. Countries that are only partially recognized internationally are marked with an asterisk (*).
Major central banks by currency allocation p ...
References
External links
Official site: Norges Bank
Official site: Norges Bank
{{authority control
Government agencies of Norway
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
Banks of Norway
Economy of Oslo
Banks established in 1816
Norwegian companies established in 1816