Erkki Liikanen, has been Governor of the Bank of Finland since 2004. He is currently serving his second 7-year term.

Mr Liikanen, a former EU Commissioner, Ambassador and Minister of Finance, is one of the longest serving members of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. He is Chairman of the ECB Audit Committee, with a mandate to enhance the corporate governance of the ECB and the Eurosystem. He is also Governor of the International Monetary Fund for Finland. In 2012 Mr Liikanen chaired a High-level Expert Group proposing structural reforms of the EU banking sector.

At the European Commission, Mr Liikanen was responsible for Enterprise and Information Society, and earlier for Budget, Personnel and Administration. In all, Mr Liikanen was a member of the European Commission from1995 to2004.

In the early 1990s, Mr Liikanen was head of the Finnish Mission to the European Union.  Before commencing his international career, Mr Liikanen was Minister of Finance in Finland.  Mr Liikanen is so far the youngest person ever to become a member of the Finnish Parliament, starting his parliamentary career in 1971 at the age of 21.

Mr Liikanen is an economist by training. He holds a masters degree in Political Science (Economics) from the University of Helsinki. He also holds honorary doctorates from the University of Technology, Finland (2003) and Aalto University School of Economics, Finland (2011).

An active member of civil society, Mr Liikanen serves as President of the Finnish Red Cross.