Bank of Estonia
Rein Otsason led the Bank of Estonia in its very first years when legal acts regulating the activities of the bank were created and monetary reform to re-establish Estonian kroon as the national currency of Estonia was prepared. On 15 March 1990 the Statutes of the Bank of Estonia were approved; on 15 May 1990 the procedure for establishment of commercial banks was established. The programmes for transition to national currency were finished in November 1990 and next year started the preparations for monetary reform.
Rein Otsason participated in the work of Monetary Reform Committee established on 27 March 1991 and led by Prime Minister Edgar Savisaar. He signed on 10 May 1991 a contract with the company Thomas De La Rue & Co Ltd. for printing banknotes of Estonian kroons. Although his work was crucial for the success of monetary reform, he was not the one to supervise the reform. His wish to postpone the monetary reform until a way will be found to alleviate social problems caused by the reform led to confrontation with his superiors and on 23 September 1991 he was replaced with Siim Kallas. The reform took place on 20 June 1992.
Rein Otsason and Siim Kallas are often called the "fathers of Estonian kroon". Rein Otsason was decorated by the President of the Republic with the Estonian Order of the Coat of Arms, 4th class (2003).
Read more about this topic: Rein Otsason, Biography
Famous quotes containing the word bank:
“I have passed down the river before sunrise on a summer morning, between fields of lilies still shut in sleep; and when, at length, the flakes of sunlight from over the bank fell on the surface of the water, whole fields of white blossoms seemed to flash open before me, as I floated along, like the unfolding of a banner, so sensible is this flower to the influence of the sun’s rays.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)