Olli Rehn

Dr Olli Rehn is Governor and Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Finland. He has been Governor as of 12 July 2018. Dr Rehn is responsible for monetary policy preparation, domestic economic policy, external communications, international affairs and internal audit. Governor Rehn is a member of the Governing Council of the ECB.

Mr Rehn has held European and international posts for many years. He was Vice-President of the European Commission in 2011–2014. As a Member of the European Commission, he was responsible for Enlargement in 2004–2010 and for Economic and Monetary Affairs in 2010-2014, when his responsibilities included the reform of the rules of Economic and Monetary Union, financial assistance programmes for the distressed countries, and the preparation of stability mechanisms. Mr Rehn represented the European Commission on the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, in G7/G20 cooperation and at meetings of the International Monetary Fund in 2010–2014.

Mr Rehn served as Minister of Economic Affairs in Prime Minister Sipilä’s Government in 2015–2016, having been elected Member of Parliament from  Helsinki in April 2015. He was a Member of Parliament also in 1991–1995. Mr Rehn was a Member and Vice President of the European Parliament in 2014–2015 and was a member of the first group of Finnish MEPs in 1995–1996. 

Mr Rehn holds a degree of Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in international political economy from the University of Oxford (1996). In his doctoral thesis, Mr Rehn analysed corporatism and industrial competitiveness in small European states. Mr Rehn had previously graduated as Master of Social Sciences (Political Science) from the University of Helsinki in 1989.

Mr Rehn’s leisure time interests are football, reading, rock music and jazz.

Mr Rehn was born on 31 March 1962. His family includes his wife Merja and daughter Silva, born in 1998.