samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
For OTC derivatives, the redistribution of trading has been less clear-cut in direction, with dealers moving some activities to EU trading venues and others to US venues, the latter having equivalence arrangements with both the EU and the United 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  Kingdom. Towards a well-functioning capital markets union in the EU The events of the past year – the pandemic and Brexit – have put renewed emphasis on the need for the EU to have a well-functioning capital markets union. In fact, EU leaders have agreed to finance the recovery from the pandemic by borrowing collectively through financial markets. The issuance of high-quality euro-denominated sovereign bonds under the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery fund is a step towards achieving deeper, more complete and liquid capital markets and establishing a European safe asset. As the Commission intends to raise 30% of the € billion recovery fund by issuing green bonds, NGEU is also expected to contribute to further developing sustainable and green finance. In parallel, the Commission has set out 16 specific actions to boost the EU’s capital markets union, which are aligned with many of the ECB’s own priorities.4 These actions aim to deepen and further integrate European capital markets, in order to allow investors, savers, firms and market infrastructures alike to access a full range of services and products, regardless of where they are in the EU.

The Commission has set up a working group with EU authorities and industry to address the issues involved and to facilitate the transfer of derivatives contracts denominated in euro or other EU currencies to EU CCPs. From a supervisory perspective, UK CCPs have been recognised as third-country CCPs by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).3 And two UK CCPs have been recognised as being systemically important for the EU (Tier 2 CCPs). In line with the provisions of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, this means that they are subject to ESMA’s supervision. This set-up helps to ensure that Tier 2 CCPs comply with EU regulatory standards. During this 18-month period of equivalence, ESMA will assess whether this set-up is sufficient to address risks to EU financial stability emanating from these two systemically important UK CCPs. As part of its responsibility for issuing the euro, the Eurosystem – which comprises the ECB and national central banks of the euro area – will develop its own stance on the matter and will contribute to ESMA’s assessment. At the end of this process, ESMA may recommend that the Commission deny the UK CCPs recognition to provide certain clearing services or activities in the EU if they pose excessive risks to financial stability. If this recommendation were to affect eurodenominated clearing services, the Eurosystem’s agreement would also be required.
Firstly, it is a means of payment, which means that a monetary value is transferred to the recipient when money is handed over. Secondly, it forms a unit of account, in Sweden this unit is krona and öre and in the United Kingdom it is pounds and pence, and so on. With a common unit of account, we all measure the value of goods in the same way, which makes it easier to compare the price or value of different goods. Thirdly, money is a store of value, which means that we can save by holding cash or money in bank accounts and thereby redistribute consumption from one day to another date in the future. Money is something we take for granted, but for money to work in practice, we first have to deal with a very complicated problem. This problem concerns trust, and trust in turn depends on many different things. However, the basic idea is that we must be able to trust that the money will retain its value over time - that we can still use it to pay with tomorrow. Otherwise we will not want to accept cash, for instance, as payment and we will try to get rid of that we have as quickly as possible. This is exactly what happens with hyperinflation. Money is exchanged as quickly as possible for bread, sanitary items, gold or something else that can in turn be exchanged for other goods or saved.

In doing so, the Fed is also continuing to underscore that actions such as our purchase of U.S. government securities are driven exclusively by our monetary policy goals, and that these policy actions will not continue beyond the moment they become inconsistent with our dual mandate objectives. In general, policymakers should strive to ensure that we have both fiscal and monetary policy frameworks that are transparent and viewed as credible and durable. Interconnectedness means that events – be it the tragedy of a Japanese earthquake and tsunami, a revolution in Libya, or a financial crisis sparked by a housing boom and bust in the United States – can be transmitted to domestic economies located far away from the initial source of shock, often at market-speed measured in milliseconds. This interconnectedness underscores our common interest in cooperating not just to facilitate needed economic adjustments, but also to address fragilities in our interconnected global financial system. I think coordination on regulatory matters differs from on macroeconomic issues in two important respects. First, the benefits to cooperation and coordination on certain aspects of regulation seem easier to identify up front. Second, while policy coordination on regulatory issues is also very challenging, it may not be quite as difficult as in the macroeconomic realm. The stakeholders are not typically as numerous or diffuse, the problems are generally easier to identify, the gains from a cooperative solution are more obvious, and the cooperative solutions themselves may be easier to implement. On the regulatory side, I’ll start with a few broad observations.
In a number of ways I feel that the world’s foreign exchange and money markets may have reached something of a watershed in the past year or so. We have witnessed a reduction in the number of significant world currencies as a result of the arrival of the euro. We have also seen accelerating consolidation among the ranks of major players. These two factors have tended to reduce the volume of interbank business. Meanwhile the traditional market infrastructure is being supplemented and challenged by the emergence of new electronic trading platforms. And, while there has already been for many years a strong momentum for product innovation, the pressure to sustain profits may most recently have intensified that search. At the same time the regulators are as anxious as ever to ensure that risks are properly understood (both by themselves and by the bankers) and appropriately managed. I am sure that the MPC will play a useful role in helping the industry meet this challenge, by providing training for new practitioners and continuing its work on product development. The recent study on the feasibility and desirability of introducing overnight index swaps in Hong Kong is one good example of this work. 7. I should perhaps stop here to avoid encroaching further on the valuable time set aside for our guest speaker today. Donald Mathieson of the IMF is no stranger to Hong Kong. Many of you will be familiar with the authoritative reports and analysis of financial markets that he and his colleagues produce.

These efforts help to keep local practitioners abreast of what is going on in overseas markets, and of product development, as well as codes and standards. This is important in ensuring that the professionalism of market practitioners in Hong Kong can be maintained at internationally accepted levels. 5. In this connection, the MPC has recently been consulted on the draft Model Forex Guidelines prepared by an international private sector task force under the encouragement of a small group of central bank sponsors, including the HKMA. The draft Guidelines are formulated to ensure that the industry will follow the best market practices and avoid potentially problematic trading practices, such as trading at illiquid hours or spreading rumours and false information. The MPC has expressed support for the draft and will consider incorporating the proposed Guidelines into its Code of Conduct for Hong Kong practitioners. This is a very positive move. An abundance of international financial activities take place in Hong Kong. The adoption of the proposed Guidelines in Hong Kong will go a  BIS Review 3/2001  1  long way towards enhancing the integrity of our markets and sustaining the development of Hong Kong as an international financial centre. It will also contribute to greater financial stability in our domestic markets. 6. There are a number of future challenges that the forex and money markets players will have to face, including the changing landscape of the industry.
However, we are at least talking about a reasonably well-defined type of risk and one which is quantifiable in statistical terms. We are in much more difficult territory when it comes to operational risk. The term operational risk covers a wide range of types and sources of risk, and banks’ data bases of loss are generally patchy. There are numerous questions not only about the appropriate design of the charge, but also about the appropriate level. It is clear that some types of operational risk, such as fraud, can result in huge spikes of loss, as we saw in the case of Barings and Morgan Grenfell. Even though we are concerned with protecting the system, I feel it would be inappropriate to expect most banks to hold an additional cushion of capital to cover these sorts of very rare events: it would either be grossly excessive for most of the time, or alternatively seriously inadequate if a major problem arose. So the focus here must be on systems and controls, and on using variable target capital ratios under Pillar 2 to encourage improvements in these. Moreover, the appropriate level of capital will depend in part on how far we think operational losses are correlated with other types of loss which are already covered by capital. Probably there are some types of operational loss - processing errors, settlement delays - which do not exhibit a high correlation with either credit or market risk.

But in practice, there is clear evidence that credit or market losses put pressure on the firm, which can push managers into fraud or result in operationally-risky cost cutting. There have certainly been occasions when operational losses have only been revealed because of a market downturn or similar event. As I heard it graphically expressed the other day: “It is only when the tide goes out that you discover who is not wearing a bathing costume”! I am optimistic that, over time, operational risk will become more measurable and that, as was the case for market risk models, a consensus on methods of quantifying it will emerge. The Basel Committee’s framework will certainly have to be flexible in the face of this evolution. However, we should also not lose sight of the fact that the Committee’s announced aim is not just coverage of operational risks, but “other” risks more generally. Episodes of market turmoil over the past couple of years have BIS Review 132/1999  4  demonstrated just how wide is the range of risks that are not currently explicitly covered by regulatory capital; I would include under this heading market liquidity risk, individual bank liquidity risk, correlation risk between credit and market risks, and legal and reputational risk. These types of risk can certainly produce systemic disruptions. My expectation would be that, even with further advances on measuring operational and credit risk, most banks will want to carry a chunk of fairly undefined capital to cover rainy day events.
In countries such as Italy and Germany, supports in the form of capital, credit and other liquidity were employed in addition to the fiscal policy. Meanwhile, in emerging markets, economies were supported by various measures, although these measures were more limited compared to advanced economies. With the rate cut decision we took at the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting on 17 March 2020, we announced our first set of measures geared towards countering the economic effects of the pandemic. These measures aimed to; (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)  enhance predictability by providing banks with flexibility in Turkish lira and foreign exchange liquidity management, offer targeted additional liquidity facilities to banks to secure uninterrupted credit flow to the corporate sector, boost cash flow of exporting firms through arrangements on rediscount credits, and boost the liquidity of the Government Domestic Debt Securities (GDDS) market. The uninterrupted and smooth functioning of financial markets, the credit channel and firms’ cash flows was essential to contain the adverse effects of the coronavirus. The measures taken boosted the financial sector’s liquidity and credit conditions, and the monetary transmission mechanism continued to function effectively. 5  In sum, we aimed to support financial stability and the post-pandemic recovery process by providing much-needed liquidity to the financial system and the real sector under appropriate conditions during the pandemic. Thus, we sought to minimize the long-term damage to production and employment that may be caused by temporary effects arising from the pandemic.

Ardian Fullani: Overview of Albania’s latest monetary and economic developments and outlook Speech by Mr Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, on the Monetary Policy Decision of the Bank of Albania’s Supervisory Council, Tirana, 25 June 2014. *  *  *  The Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania reviewed and approved today the monthly Monetary Policy Report. Based on the most recent economic and monetary developments in Albania, and following the discussions on their outlook, the Supervisory Council decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged, at 2.50%. The Council considers that the gradual transmission of earlier interest rate cuts to the financial markets will provide adequate monetary conditions for inflation to return to target over the medium term. Let me now proceed with an overview of the economic developments and key issues discussed at today’s meeting. *** Annual inflation rate was 1.6% in May, slightly down from the previous month. Inflation fell due to the reduction of health care prices, while prices of other items in the basket recorded low volatility. As with previous months, annual inflation continues to be determined by unprocessed food prices, which contribute around 88% to its final rate. From the macroeconomic perspective, the performance of consumer prices continues to reflect weak inflationary pressures, both from the domestic economy and the external sector. The negative output gap does not favour an increase in employment and wages, leading thus to a low increase of other production costs.
If deregulation is to improve competition and efficiency, banks must be free to adjust their pricing not just on interest rates but  BIS Review 3/2001  1  also on fees and charges. I have absolutely no argument with this. However, I very much hope that banks will display some sensitivity on this, and will bear in mind the public interest. They should also ensure that their pricing is transparent, and that customers have good notice of any changes. 7. In addition to interest rate deregulation, there are a number of other market reform measures originating from the consultancy report published a year or so ago which are still being progressed. For example, later this year we will consider whether there should be some further relaxation of the restriction on the opening of branches by foreign banks which have entered the market since 1978. We also plan to review whether the three-tier system of authorisation might be reduced to two tiers, although we do not plan to visit this issue until next year – i.e. 2002 - and have quite an open mind on this. This is rather later than we originally intended. But it reflects the fact that we believe that the present system is working reasonably well and that there is no pressing need to change.

For sums higher than this it was cheaper to use cards. If we now compare this with the choices that the consumers actually made, the conclusion is that in 2002 it would have been better from the point of view of the Swedish economy if the consumers had made more payments by card and fewer payments in cash. From society’s point of view, it was profitable to pay by card when the sums were higher than SEK 70, but, as was the investigation from 2006 made evident, the “average consumer” nevertheless chose to wait until the sums were higher than SEK 123. Eight years have now passed since the study was conducted and it is much more likely that the costs of using cash have increased rather than decreased. For example, the costs for increasing the security of transportation and ATMs have been substantial. On the other hand, available evidence suggests that a card payment costs somewhat less today. One reason for this is that the shops’ costs for getting a card payment redeemed seem to have fallen due to increased competition between the card acquirers. The level at which it becomes more advantageous to the economy to use cards rather than cash has therefore probably fallen below SEK 70. The survey we conducted last year shows that we use cards to an increasing extent and for smaller and smaller payments. It is not unlikely that today’s “average consumer” would choose to pay by card for an amount below SEK 123.
The Colombo Stock Market has gained by 35% on average during the past 5 years. The growth during the last year was over 50% and the trend has continued so far during the year. With the expansion of CSE to regional cities such as Matara and Kandy, the contribution of outstation customers in stock market activities have increased significantly and this trend should be encouraged. However in comparison to other regional countries, our Insurance penetration rate is still low, although the developments in the industry during recent years have been impressive. As the country observes these developments in the financial sector, the regulatory mechanism has strengthened as it should be. The Central Bank continues to supervise the banking sector, finance companies, leasing companies, and money changers. Stock exchanges and stock brokers are regulated by the SEC. IBSL has the role of regulating the Insurance Industry. All these developments have necessitated more and more people who are skilled, knowledgeable and trained on financial services. As stated in the bestseller of Robert Kiyosaki, the reason as to why most of the poor and middle class people financially struggle, while the rich continue to remain rich for generations, is mainly because of the lack of financial intelligence and insight, as the real financial education is usually conveyed by parents to their children and not taught formally at schools. Perhaps, this applies not only to individuals but to countries as well.

May be, one of the reasons as to why we remain under-developed while developed countries progress faster, may be because of our shortage of human capital, with specific and adequate financial insights and awareness. If this situation is to be rectified, we need to develop well financially-educated people to operate financial institutions. We need well trained people to regulate these institutions. We need the investors to master the art of investment. All in all, we need our future generations to acquire sufficient financial knowledge. At the same time, I hope the knowledge that would be disseminated by this newly formed FSA would, also be valuable to change the attitudes of our financial journalists as well. In that regard, I hope that some of these courses may provide opportunities for our journalists too, to better understand financial service related subjects so that they will be able to provide a more meaningful interpretation of such matters. That too would, hopefully, enhance the general public’s understanding of financial operations and I look forward to such an outcome as well. As we all know there is today a vast majority of people who lack the knowledge to take advantage of the enormous opportunities that may be actually right in front of them. I think we have now taken the initiative to rectify that situation.
This may seem paradoxical but if people feel they can rely on the central bank, in an economic slowdown it may be possible to ease the monetary stance without triggering higher inflation expectations and bond rates, because everyone counts on policy being tightened before inflation moves up. We have experienced something of this sort in Sweden in the past year. In a system with poor credibility, a monetary easing may be perceived as a sign of a lasting upward shift in inflation. This in turn may generate self-fulfilling expectations, with future problems when efforts are made to control inflation once more. It is understandable that the risk of this is seen as particularly great in economies where inflation has been high for a long time. A more independent central bank is thus in a better position not only to maintain low inflation but also to operate at times with a policy that includes an element of stabilisation (though the problems of fine tuning stabilisation policy should not be underestimated). The German central bank is one example; over a series of decades, economic slowdowns could be parried by lowering the short interest rate fairly rapidly and markedly. It may be in place to point out that credibility and, for that matter, independence can be achieved in various ways. Some countries have recently clarified their regulations so as to BIS Review 32/1997  -7-  bring them into line with the arrangement I have just advocated. One example is New Zealand.

In other countries, for instance the United States, policy has been conducted so that it has gradually earned increasing confidence within the time-honoured system. In my opinion the rule system is important; it reflects the general commitment to monetary policy and can provide a short cut to credibility. In a democratic society, however, monetary policy is ultimately founded on popular support. That is one reason why it is important for the Riksbank to operate in such a way that confidence is created in the policy of price stability. Among other things, this calls for a clear intellectual framework that can be evaluated and for an open discussion about the direction of monetary policy. Delegates accountable to a democratic body An argument that is heard from time to time in the monetary policy debate is that the delegation of monetary policy’s construction to an independent central bank would be undemocratic. In my view that is incorrect. The Riksbank is an agency of the Riksdag (Sweden’s parliament), which clearly can stipulate the objective which the Riksbank is to aim for. It is worth emphasising, however, that it would naturally be inappropriate for the Riksdag to set up objectives that the Riksbank is not in a position to fulfil, like that - as we saw earlier - of “creating jobs” on a permanent basis. When, but only when, the Riksbank’s objective has been established, will it be possible to monitor operations effectively.