Sveriges Riksbank
central bank of Sweden
Sveriges Riksbank, or simply the Riksbank, is the central bank of Sweden. Established in 1668 by the Riksdag, it is the world's oldest surviving central bank, and the third oldest bank in continuous operation.
Prior to World War I, it was also the only state-owned central bank outside of the Russian Empire.
It is also a member of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).
Etymology
The first part of the word riksbank, riks, stems from the Swedish word rike, which means realm, kingdom, empire or nation in English. A literal English translation of the bank's name could thus be Sweden's Realm's Bank. The bank, however, does not translate its name to English but rather uses its Swedish name the Riksbank in its official English-language communications.
History
The Riksbank began operations in 1668. Previously, Sweden was served by the Stockholms Banco (also known as the Bank of Palmstruch), founded by Johan Palmstruch in 1656. Although the bank was private, it was the king who chose its management: in a letter to Palmstruch, he gave permission to its operations according to stated regulations.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q564652. VIAF identifies the subject as 148967159. The Library of Congress control number is n79061303. Authority coordinates are 59.330, 18.070. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1668 and 1656.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sveriges Riksbank” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.