The Bank of Finland acts as Finland's central bank, national monetary authority and member of the European System of central banks and the Eurosystem. The Eurosystem covers the European Central Bank and the euro area central banks. Therefore, the Bank of Finland's strategies are related to both domestic and Eurosystem objectives.

The main objective of the Eurosystem and Bank of Finland alike is price stability, which means maintaining a moderate rise in consumer prices. Price stability creates the prerequisites for a sound economy. In order to meet this objective, the Bank of Finland participates in the preparation and decision-making process of the Eurosystem's monetary policy as well as implementing the policy in Finland. A broad research base provides a solid background to the Bank's expertise in these tasks.

In addition to monetary policy and research, the Bank of Finland has three other core functions: financial markets and statistics, banking operations and the maintenance of currency supply. The Bank of Finland safeguards the domestic financial system's liquidity management and handles payment transfers between banks.

The Bank of Finland oversees the stability and efficiency of the Finnish payment systems and takes therefore an interest in both wholesale and retail payment systems with a view to promote their developments in line with the needs of the Finnish economy.