Annual Report of Operations 2025
Money and payment in 2025
The Bank of Finland ensures the efficient and reliable operation of payment systems in Finland by participating extensively in their development and by ensuring that contingency preparations are in place. In 2025, the Bank of Finland enhanced the operation of payment systems by updating its payments policy and by furthering access to cash and the development of digital forms of payment. The changing operating environment heightened the importance of resilient payment systems. Development of the Eurosystem’s TARGET Services and closer cooperation with market participants bolstered the stability and efficiency of the payments infrastructure.
- In September 2025, the Bank of Finland published its new payments policy. The new policy underlines the need for multiple payment methods and the importance of resilience as well considering development needs from the perspective of society as a whole.
- Demand for cash continued to grow and the Bank of Finland examined the cost-efficiency of cash supply. Issuance of cash grew and the number of counterfeits decreased, which improved the security of cash supply.
- The development of point-of-sale payment based on account-based payment solutions moved towards implementation. Instant payments – credit transfers that can be made in real time and around the clock – became feasible. At the same time, the digital euro project shifted to a new preparation phase, moving closer towards a new European payment solution.
- The Bank of Finland strengthened the security of payment systems, improved offline card payment and developed backup systems for account-based payment. Data connections remained in good shape despite incidents of damage to cables.
- Financial market integration was strengthened as a result of the extension of TARGET Services. An agreement was reached on the adoption of a new dividend payment model based on central bank money at the start of 2027.
Bank of Finland updated its payments policy in 2025
In September 2025, the Bank of Finland published its new payments policy. The new payments policy combines the previous guiding principles on cash services, published in 2018, and on electronic payments, published in 2022, and brings these up to date.
The policy underlines the need for multiple payment methods and the importance of resilience. It is essential that future payment services work effectively for society as a whole and that they are highly secure and reliable.
The payments policy will help the Bank of Finland assess the operation of payment and settlement systems and contribute to the debate on how these systems should be developed.
Developments in cash supply in 2025
The demand for cash continued to grow in Finland during the year. The number of counterfeit euro banknotes remained small and was lower than in 2024. The Bank of Finland also examined the cost-efficiency of cash supply.
Issuance of cash continued to grow and number of counterfeits decreased
The Bank of Finland is responsible for the issuance of euro cash in Finland and acts in cooperation with other cash supply parties to ensure the availability, authenticity and fitness of banknotes and coins.
Issuance of cash continued to increase in 2025, which means that the amount of cash ordered from the Bank of Finland exceeded the amount of cash returns. The largest increase was in the EUR 50 banknote denomination.
The number of counterfeit euro banknotes in Finland remained low. A total of 483 counterfeit euro notes were detected among banknotes in circulation, which was fewer than in 2024.
Functioning and efficiency of cash supply
In spring 2025, the Bank of Finland examined the external costs of cash supply incurred by businesses. The costs of cash supply in Finland vary significantly by sector and geographical location. The average annual cost per business was EUR 1,293.
The most expensive stages in cash supply are transportation and depositing, and this is particularly so in large businesses and remote regions. As costs increase, businesses may limit the acceptance of cash, and therefore particular attention must be paid to the cost-efficiency of cash supply solutions and the transparency of costs throughout the country.
In Oulu, the Bank of Finland began working closely with local cash supply entities to improve the local circulation of cash and reduce the transportation needs.
The Bank of Finland decided to repurpose shredded banknotes. Previously, shredded banknotes were incinerated as waste energy, but now they are used as raw material for thermal insulation in Finnish homes and other buildings.
During the year, the EU continued its preparations for a regulation on the legal tender of euro banknotes and coins. The objective of the regulation is to ensure access to and acceptance of cash for consumers and businesses.
The Bank of Finland’s view is that the regulation being prepared by the EU will not directly affect the opportunities to withdraw and deposit cash, and therefore national measures are necessary to ensure these opportunities are sufficient. During the year, a working group set up by the Ministry of Finance in autumn 2024 assessed the availability of banking services, but it did not propose regulations on cash services.
Good progress continued in the work on payment digitalisation
The work to develop a Finnish instant payment solution moved to the implementation phase in 2025. The project on a digital euro, which would complement the current payment alternatives, also moved to its next phase.
Development of instant payment moved to the implementation phase
Instant payment refers to credit transfers that can be made in real time and around the clock, every day of the year. Launching new alternatives for retail payments will increase competition and payment resilience.
The Bank of Finland is coordinating the market stakeholders’ joint instant payment initiative. The aim of the initiative is to promote the creation of alternatives for retail payment. As part of the initiative, a Finnish Instant Payments Scheme Rulebook was published in autumn 2024. The Payments Council recommended that market stakeholders adopt the rulebook and produce solutions that are in line with it.
After completion of the rulebook, the Payments Council sought a commercial service provider for the instant payment solution, and in October 2025 the Payments Council transferred the responsibility for developing the rulebook to Siirto Brand Oy.
The instant payment initiative is in line with the Bank of Finland’s 2025 strategic priority headed ‘resilient economy and finances’. The Bank of Finland is continuing to foster instant payment solutions and cooperation with market stakeholders to ensure the introduction of such solutions.
| Instant payment: main messages | ||
|---|---|---|
| A Finnish instant payment solution would offer convenient new account-based payment solutions to businesses and consumers. | A solution based on instant credit transfers would increase the resilience of payment by adding to the variety of payment methods. | A new payment alternative would increase competition. The objective is to reduce the cost of payment. |
| Mobile applications would be the responsibility of the participating service providers. | A larger number of payment alternatives would improve the opportunity to make payments in unexpected situations (e.g. disruptions in one payment method). | Lower costs of payment could curb the rise in consumer prices or even reduce prices slightly. |
| The user experience would be uniform in all applications. | Instant payment would also provide a truly European payment alternative. | |
Digital euro project began a second preparation phase in 2025
A digital euro would be a digital payment instrument developed for euro area citizens and offered by the central bank. A digital euro would work in the same way throughout the euro area, whether at the point-of-sale, in online shopping, in person-to-person payments or in payments to public authorities.
A digital euro would complement the other means of payment and thus increase payment resilience. At the same time, it would strengthen the international role of the euro. The Bank of Finland is participating actively in the preparatory work for a digital euro.
The first preparation phase for a digital euro lasted 2 years in total. It began in October 2023 and was concluded in autumn 2025. During this preparation phase, the sourcing of components for the digital euro service platform was completed and the providers for the platform were selected.
The Eurosystem delivered a draft digital euro scheme rulebook, prepared together with market participants, to the digital euro project for its comments. In addition, during the first preparation phase the Eurosystem intensified cooperation with various stakeholders and conducted technical testing and user research.
Changing global environment required continuous focus on monitoring and preparedness
The Bank of Finland ensures the security and efficiency of payment systems in Finland. In 2025, it participated extensively in developing contingency measures and strengthened the resilience of payment systems. It began a project to enhance offline card payment and also continued to develop backup systems for account-based payment. In addition, the Bank participated in Eurosystem stress tests and cyber resilience assessment, and updated its TIBER-FI guidance in line with the new EU requirements.
Availability of banking services was good
The Bank of Finland ensures that payment and settlement systems in Finland operate securely and efficiently. The Bank assesses annually the market infrastructure that is important for the Finnish financial market and that is subject to its oversight. The most recent list was published in December 2025.
Several incidents of damage to undersea cables took place in the Baltic Sea in 2025. These concerned cables connecting Finland and Estonia and connections between the Baltic countries and Sweden. These incidents did not have a significant impact on the availability of banking services to citizens and businesses.
International data connections are vital for payment traffic, and the Bank of Finland continues to promote measures that are essential for the functioning and reliability of payment systems. The availability of banking services to citizens and businesses was good throughout 2025.
Extensive further development of contingency measures
In 2025, the Bank of Finland sought to enhance the preparedness of retail payment systems in various ways. It launched a project to improve offline card payment, the objective of which is to improve the functioning of cards during disruptions in data communications. In addition, the Bank of Finland continued to develop backup systems for account-based payments. Both projects continued in 2026.
In 2025, the Eurosystem’s annual stress testing of critical participants made use of the BOF-PSS3 payment and settlement system simulator developed by the Bank of Finland. In August, the Bank of Finland held the 23rd international simulator seminar for central banks’ oversight experts, operators and researchers.
During the year, the Eurosystem also conducted a separate round of cyber surveys related to cyber resilience. The results show that payment service providers have generally improved their cyber security management compared to the previous surveys conducted in 2023.
The transformation of the global landscape, which seems unlikely to be short-lived, requires continuous attention to be given to monitoring and preparedness measures. One of the Bank of Finland’s priorities will continue to be the active development of measures that improve preparedness as well as resilience.
Bank of Finland participated in testing of digital operational resilience
The EU Regulation on digital operational resilience for the financial sector (Digital Operational Resilience Act, DORA) became applicable in January 2025. The provisions include various new requirements for financial sector entities. One of these is the obligation of certain entities to conduct regular threat-led penetration testing (TLPT).
TLTP is an advanced testing method used by the most significant entities in the sector to ensure the cyber security defence capabilities of their ICT environments against targeted cyberattacks.
The European Central Bank issued an updated version of its TIBER-EU guidance in January 2025, and in March 2025 the Bank of Finland issued its own updated TIBER-FI guidance, which complies with the requirements of the DORA Regulation. By complying with the TIBER-FI guidance, financial sector entities will fulfil the requirements of the DORA Regulation and the requirements for TLTP testing laid down in its implementing technical standard.
The Bank of Finland conducts the TLPT testing in close cooperation with the Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA). The FIN-FSA is the competent authority in Finland regarding application of the DORA Regulation.
Bank of Finland closely monitored increase in fraud-related crime and new technological phenomena
The Bank of Finland monitors on an ongoing basis developments in payment-related criminal activity.
Preliminary statistics show that in 2025 the growth in the amount of fraud and fraudulent payments slowed compared to both 2023 and 2024, and the monetary value of the proceeds of these crimes remained unchanged from 2024. Fraud is still the most significant category of financial crime.
The Bank of Finland also monitors the emergence of new phenomena in the financial markets. One example is the development of quantum computing and the resulting new solutions and threats. Even though the likelihood of the quantum threat materialising is small in the near term (blogpost in Finnish) the development of this phenomenon is monitored closely.
TARGET Services and international cooperation strengthened the integration of financial markets in 2025
TARGET Services were extended significantly in 2025 as the Bank of Finland and its counterparties successfully joined the new Eurosystem Collateral Management System (ECMS). In addition to this international cooperation, the Bank of Finland’s Nordic cooperation also deepened as Sweden prepares to join the European T2S platform.
Eurosystem’s TARGET Services were extended
In June 2025, the Bank of Finland and its monetary policy counterparties successfully joined the unified ECMS collateral management system for euro area countries.
The ECMS is an integral part of the TARGET Services offered by the Eurosystem, and its operation is based on unified processes and standards. In addition to the ECMS, the TARGET Services include T2 payment system, TIPS instant payment settlement and T2S securities settlement. Central banks and commercial banks use the ECMS for managing securities and other assets placed as collateral for central bank liquidity.
The Bank of Finland was an active participant in the preparation of the ECMS launch from the project phase onwards. The Eurosystem will continue to develop the ECMS, alongside the other TARGET Services.
Another significant change took place when, in October 2025, the Eurosystem granted for the first time payment service providers and electronic money institutions direct access to central banks’ T2 and TIPS services. This will support competition and innovation in instant payments.
Dividend payments model will be updated in Finland in 2027
In May 2025, under the direction of the Bank of Finland, the Finnish market reached agreement on a new dividend payment model. The market participants agreed on the adoption of a gross tax model based on central bank money at the start of 2027. Implementation of the new model will be the responsibility of Euroclear Finland, together with the market participants.
In addition, the central securities depositories Euroclear Finland and Euroclear Sweden have decided to work together more closely. The main element of this involves putting Euroclear Finland’s central securities depository system into operation in Sweden as well, which will also support the European Commission’s savings and investments union strategy. This will form part of the process in which the Swedish central securities depository and the Swedish securities market join the European T2S platform for securities settlement. The implementation of this project will take several years.
