banks. what is special about central banks? as policy institutions, central banks have objectives and responsibilities that differ from the financial institutions operating on a commercial basis. to enable the central banks to fulfil their responsibilities, they also have special powers – especially the monopoly of issuing currency and 1 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches reserve money. we should resist the temptation to use the special characteristics of central banks as excuses for not having to implement the best risk management techniques developed elsewhere. the risk management standard and techniques of " ordinary " banks should serve as an obvious starting point when discussing risks. there are differences, but they have to be justified in each case. how do the risks come about? central banks take on balance sheet risks as a result of their investment activities ( as in holding foreign reserves ), their monetary policy operations, and from time to time as providers of lender of last resort credit to their counterparts. as investors, central banks have traditionally been conservative. this means that when faced with trade - offs between risk and return, central banks have traditionally tended to favour assets with very low credit risk even if the expected returns from such investments have been modest. traditionally, central banks have also preferred very liquid, short - term investments. these choices have been clearly visible in the way foreign exchange reserves are usually invested. as policy makers, central banks influence market conditions and market prices in a unique way. this is the task why central banks exist today, and why they are able to conduct monetary policy. the ability, and indeed the obligation, to steer the money markets in order to deliver macroeconomic stability adds an important extra twist to the risk management problem : the central bank is not just price taker in the financial markets, it is a price maker too. this is one of the features that make them special as investors and lenders. one may see it as a sort of paradox that central banks, in making policy, themselves seem to create and control much of the risk they themselves bear as investors and creditors. however, the central banks do not actually have arbitrary powers to steer the interest rates or other market prices. they are mandated to exercise their monetary policy powers to pursue specific pre - set goals : the policy objectives for which they are accountable. in the eurosystem for instance, price stability is the overriding objective. therefore, although the actions of the central banks may have an impact on their financial risks, these actions are taken with the requirements of monetary ( and financial ) policy in view

i remember, how big a role was given to design. i am happy to hear that jorma vennola, the designer whose style we all know, is here with us. and fourthly, an important focus of oras was on internationalization. all in all, it was also important to learn that a family company can grow fast when it is growthand innovation - oriented and profits are retained in the company to finance growth. generally, the sentiment in finland was gradually turning more international in the 1980s. the finnish companies started to go international not only by establishing new sales units, also by making acquisitions to enlarge their market shares. a number of family - owned companies followed this path. oras was among them. it was not possible to maintain the high pace of growth by a company mainly based in finnish markets. they had to seek growth from abroad. also the drivers for economic growth were changing in the 1980s : according to professor matti pohjola, up until the mid - seventies investment of physical capital was the main driver of productivity and growth in finland. it was only from the end of 1970s onwards, when human capital, like investments in education and r & d started to dominate. one of the trends of the late 1970s and the early 1980s was that the baby boomers were increasingly entering the top positions in business and politics. in oras, the new generation was also taking the lead, as pekka paasikivi was nominated as the new ceo of oras in 1979. bis central bankers ’ speeches 1990s in summer 1990 i moved with my family moved to brussels. when we arrived at zaventem airport, we were welcome by oras faucets in the toilets. later i went to see a football match in anderlecht. in the stadium we saw a small billboard of oras : the red color and a faucet was easy to recognize. later we understood that to win market shares was not as easy. when we left brussels in 2004, the faucets were in the news. the cartel case on faucet market had just been opened. oras was not part of the cartel of a number of european companies. they were severely fined by the european commission a few years later. the domestic depression of the 1990s was deep in finland. high interest rates and the later devaluations of markka hit many companies and bankruptcies went up. the collapse of trade with the soviet union had its important role.