samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
In business abroad, ordinary earnings improved notably, driven by the strength of business in Latin America. Thus, the Spanish banks with the most international activity obtained ordinary profit in excess of pre-pandemic levels. 10  Between December 2021 and April 2023, the pass-through was 42% in the case of lending for house purchase and to NFCs, and 27% in other lending to households. 11 The year-on-year improvement in this ratio was driven by loans to firms (-1.8 pp, to 9.7%), while the ratio increased in loans to households (by 0.9 pp, to 5.7%). 12  The cumulative decline from the December 2012 peak is 79.6%. 13  ROA excluding the windfall tax on banking sector profits and other extraordinaries rose to 0.83% in Q1. 14  By comparison, net interest income rose by 17.2% between March 2014 and March 2019 and fell by 1.8% between March 2019 and March 2022. 5  Dividend payments amounted to more than € billion in 2022, with a payout ratio of 40%, similar to the pre-pandemic level. Also noteworthy were the rise in earnings per share and the sharp increase in share buy-backs made by some banks, the aim being to subsequently cancel the repurchased shares and reduce share capital, thus providing additional remuneration for shareholders. Solvency After falling by 25 bp in 2022, in 2023 Q1 the CET1 ratio was virtually unchanged on the same period of 2022.

Inflation has reached decades-long records due to the significant increase in spending during 2021, world price hikes, and problems in global supply chains. The Central Bank of Chile started its monetary policy response early in 2021 and is taking every measure necessary to bring down inflation. Local authorities have continued to work towards the consolidation of a financial stability and macroprudential framework. On financial stability policy, the mandate of the BCCh includes ensuring the normal functioning of internal and external payments systems, including the role of lender of last resort to the banking system. This gives the BCCh a broad interest in the stability of the overall financial system. Through its semiannual Financial Stability Report, BCCh identifies, monitors and reports on risks and vulnerabilities within the financial system, from a macroprudential perspective. The BCCh took the very first steps into the financial stability territory back in the early 2000s. The first Financial Stability Review of the BCCh was released in 2004, a report that contains a systemic risk assessment and analysis that provides valuable information to all participants in the local financial market, including regulators and other authorities. Thus, during the last two decades, the BCCh has consolidated its financial stability role. In turn, the CMF mandate is to safeguard the proper functioning, development and stability of the financial market, supervising banks, their subsidiaries, the 3 large saving and credit cooperatives, credit card issuers, insurance companies, securities issuers; fund managers; brokers; and financial market infrastructures. Strong coordination is required among financial authorities to preserve financial stability.
But the same arithmetic applies: such price level shocks need have no long-term impact on the inflation rate. In the medium term the real upside risks to inflation lie at home – in whether we see “second round” rises in wages and prices in the domestic economy. It is to counter those pressures that the MPC have judged it necessary over the last year for growth to slow and create a margin of spare capacity in our economy. That makes it more difficult for companies to raise prices and puts more pressure on them to restrain their costs. It also re-emphasises our determination to get inflation back to the 2% target and thus influences the expectations of financial markets, price setters, wage negotiators and households generally. And expectations themselves have an important impact on inflation. Broadly, the higher households’ expect inflation to be, the less they are likely to save today. Inflation expectations also shape workers’ wage demands as they try to protect their standard of living. And companies’ expectations will shape the prices they set as well as their willingness to concede cost increases. We know from the inflations of the 70s, 80s, and early 90s that raising interest rates will in time bring inflation down, even when expectations of future inflation are high. But we also know how painful that process is. It works through the increased threat of bankruptcy and unemployment. That forces a change in peoples’ behaviour and their hearts and minds and expectations follow.

There are many ways we can protect ourselves from scams, but in my mind, they boil down to three steps, what we call “3S - Spot, Stop and Share”: Spot – Look out for signs of scams. Question, investigate and enquire to ensure that you are about to engage in a legitimate transaction; Stop – If anything looks doubtful or suspicious, it’s probably a In such cases, stop engaging with the suspected scammer. It is important that you do not provide any banking or payment details; Share – Share your knowledge of scams with friends and family, and help protect others by reporting scams to relevant authorities so that they can take action. This 3S concept is also in line with the theme of the virtual exhibition which is ‘Semak Sebelum Diperdaya’. I hope that the information and safety pointers from this exhibition can help the public avoid being scammed. This exhibition can be accessed through the website of the Museum and Art Gallery of Bank Negara Malaysia at https://museum.bnm.gov.my/fce. In closing, always remember that scammers will evolve their tactics to fool and ensnare customers. I hope that through this virtual exhibition, all of us will be more aware and better equipped to protect ourselves against scams. We can surely succeed in beating scams, but this requires collective efforts and action by all, and not just of the authorities. All of us can do our part to raise awareness and share relevant information on scams with others, being vigilant ourselves while also helping others do so.
Development of the krona has been weak for a few years and there is no doubt that one reason for this is indeed the exchange-rate channel and the expansionary policy to maintain confidence in the inflation target. It would be strange if this were not the case as this is partly how monetary policy works. But, and this is an important ‘but’, it is far from the whole picture. It is obvious that another part of the explanation is that currencies in small, open economies tend to depreciate when there is turbulence in the world. For example the Norwegian krone and the New Zealand dollar have experienced a very similar development as the Swedish krona in recent years, despite the policy rate in Norway and New Zealand being 1.50 and 1 per cent respectively, that is to say significantly higher than in Sweden (Figure 3). This is a very important observation to consider when criticism is being levelled at the Swedish inflation-targeting regime. It gives some perspective to, among other aspects, the “krona collapse” that is often highlighted in the debate. 12 [17]  But if one holds the view that the movements in the krona are not acceptable, one can of course argue for a return to a fixed exchange rate. This would, however, be a political decision and nothing the Riksbank can decide on. Under the Currency Rate Act, the government takes decisions on the exchange-rate system that is to be applied.

There are many institutional arrangements, ranging from formal contracts between the government and central bank to non-formalised consultations between the two bodies. The efficiency of such arrangements, however, depends in most cases on their actual implementation. Now I come to the fiscal sphere. A trend towards rule-based policy can be observed here as well, albeit with some time lag and in a different form compared with monetary policy. The difference originates mainly from the fact that fiscal policy is by definition a political issue with strong redistribution aspects, which cannot easily be mandated out of direct democratic control. The independence solution is thus not readily available here, even though there have been such suggestions in the economic literature. This contributes to the fact that no single elegant model has yet been found in practice. The existing rules usually take the form of self-imposed constraints, such as legal constraints (balanced-budget acts in some countries) or international treaties (S&G Pact). Apart from this difference, though, the aim to implement rules stems from the same reasons and faces similar challenges as in monetary policy. The idea that policy should be designed in a way that does not put short-term political gains above the longer-term interests of society, that takes into account its impact on private expectations, and that is transparent to the public, is common to the monetary and  fiscal spheres. Similarly, the rules must also address the issue of their costs in terms of macroeconomic stabilisation and finding a proper policy mix.
The regulatory framework governing market practices by the Islamic financial institutions can also be strengthened further to ensure its continued soundness. This will involve the implementation of the prudential standards that have been issued by the Islamic Financial Services Board, the IFSB. Greater transparency through the observance of minimum disclosure requirements needs to be adopted by the industry. Good business practices need to be embedded in all aspects of Islamic financial operations, not only as part of good governance and corporate social responsibility, but also as part of brand building. Market efficiency in conducting Islamic business activities can also be enhanced further to ensure its sustained competitiveness as an intermediation process. As we are advancing into the third phase of the Financial Sector Master Plan, where the environment will become increasingly more liberalised and dynamic, we now have to look beyond the 2010 strategies. A key feature of the new environment is increased competition. The benefit of this trend will be to the consumers and businesses in terms of better prices, better range of products and services that are of a higher quality. This in turn would contribute to the overall performance of the economy. To be at the leading edge of competition, continuous efforts have to be intensified to enhance business efficiency and innovation. In this regard, the Islamic subsidiaries, with their increased autonomy in business operations, would be better positioned to determine their own business strategies and to realise the vast growth potential in the Islamic financial industry.

In this context, I think that the Bank of Albania should continue to maintain the leading role, in its field of responsibility and competence, related to this process, by providing the good example and its experience to the other authorities. Last, allow me to point out that the Bank of Albania has been and will continue to be an open and transparent institution. The strengthening and observance of this principle will become the fifth priority of my tasks. The Bank of Albania is able and should expand further the range of the economic information it publishes, and increase its presence in the tables where economic issues are discussed. Honourable chairman, Honourable members of commission, By presenting and motivating my request for the term renovation as the Governor of the Bank of Albania, allow me to re-affirm, that my 30-year-work in both the public and private sector of financial industry, the experience in executive positions, and results of my work, are a guarantee in fulfilling this duty. The reliance of this distinguished committee, will serve as a further motivation in giving my contribution to developing the Bank of Albania. Thank you! 5/5  BIS central bankers' speeches
Despite the general consensus that the obstacles to union in this region now are greater than they were for Europe 50 years ago, I have a feeling that Asia will not take quite so long. I am not offering to make a bet on this, mainly because I do not think that many of us in this room will be around long enough to see how many years it really does take. But one reason that makes me think that Asia will not take so long is that we have a successful model to look to, which brings me to the main question: "Can the euro be a benchmark for Asian monetary co-operation?". My answer to this question is a resounding "yes". The creation of the euro has shown that effective monetary union can be achieved in a voluntary and co-operative way by countries with different economic, political and cultural traditions. While, as I have suggested in the discussion about "special considerations", there may be different ways of achieving a similar goal in Asia, the euro provides a precedent, a point of reference, a large realm of experience and expertise, and - I would certainly agree - a benchmark for any enterprise in monetary co-operation that we might wish to embark on in this region. BIS Review 19/2005  3

Multilateral connectivity is the direction that we need to go in order for crossborder payments to be optimised. 13. Jurisdictions’ digital payments infrastructure yield potential for cross-border connectivity. MAS has embarked on a pioneering journey with the Bank of Thailand to link up our respective national retail faster payment systems – PayNow in Singapore, and PromptPay in Thailand. This linkage between our two countries’ faster payment systems will go live in the middle of 2021. To achieve our eventual aim to facilitate global cross-border payments however, we need to progress towards multilateral digital connectivity. As a starting point, adoption of harmonised protocols across national digital payments systems and infrastructures are necessary. The ISO 20022 payments messaging standard is a clear example of such a protocol. The successfully-concluded hackathon presented earlier demonstrated the potential of this standard and APIs to enhance cross-border payments. Central banks need to explore the road to multilateral connectivity in cross-border payments together. 14. The future digital payments landscape is still emerging. It is thus necessary to explore multiple fronts in order to be future-ready. To this end, the Singapore Centre of the BIS Innovation Hub, with the support of MAS, is experimenting on platforms for multilateral connectivity through two of the projects that the Singapore Centre shared on earlier – the Foundational Digital Infrastructures Project based on traditional technologies, and Project Dunbar, a multilateral multi-CBDC wholesale 4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  settlement platform. We also heard from the Hong Kong Centre two days ago about their Multiple CBDC Bridge project.
This means that the Riksbank is as anxious that inflation should not be too low as that it should not be too high. In Sweden, the annual CPI inflation rate was negative in February, for the first time since the beginning of 1999. Is there a risk of this development continuing, and what can the Riksbank do if it does? To begin with, it is important to distinguish between whether price trends are governed by developments on the demand side or on the supply side. A period of falling prices is often due to aggregate demand being significantly lower than the total supply of goods and services in the economy. This type of situation can arise for two reasons: One is that demand could fall heavily, for instance, as a result of households for some reason reducing their consumption. The other is that supply could increase significantly, for instance as a result of technological advances leading to increased productivity. While demand-driven deflation is connected with weak production growth, the opposite applies to supply-driven deflation. These are usually termed “bad deflation” and “good deflation” respectively. In practice it is not so easy to distinguish between one sort of deflation and the other. Problems arise when demand is too low in relation to supply.

Over the past twenty years, world trade has increased twice as fast as GDP growth, direct investment has increased three times as much and both foreign exchange and equity trading have increased approximately ten times faster than GDP. There are several explanations for this, including the deregulation of the financial markets during the 1980s. Another contributory factor is that China and India are participating to an increasing degree in the global economy. China is currently the world’s fourth largest trading nation, and its share of global trading has increased from 1.5 to almost 5 per cent since the beginning of the 1990s. At the same time, private consumption in China has increased from a few per cent of US consumption to the equivalent of more than one tenth. What can explain the inflation rate slowing down? Over the past year, lower import prices and higher productivity than expected have contributed to the Riksbank revising down the forecasts for future inflation, particularly in recent months. It was concluded in the Inflation Report published a couple of weeks ago that the unexpectedly low rate of increase in imported inflation (adjusted for oil prices) was partly due to lower international price pressure. Strong productivity growth has also contributed. There appear to be a number of structural changes behind the increase in productivity, which are at least partly connected with globalisation. If one disregards the temporary increases in inflation caused by high prices for energy, for instance, one can observe a gradual decline in inflation over the past decade.
These costs would have had to be included in order to provide a complete overview of society’s total costs related to the payment system. Users’ participation in the production of payment services does not necessarily have a positive impact on society’s overall efficiency in the production of payment services. Increased use of e-invoicing will, however, increase the efficiency of electronic bill payment. The survey does not cover the payees’ costs related to invoicing. BIS Review 66/2002  5  8. Price developments 1993 - 2002 Paper-based services  Electronic services  2001 NOK  4 2001 NOK  40  3.5  35 Giro cash  30  3  Giro at the counter  25  Telephone giro  2.5  20  2  15  1.5  Cheque  10  EFTPOS  PC/Internet giro Direct debits  1 Mail giro  5  0.5  0  '02  20 00  98  96  94  '02  98  20 00  96  94  0  Both developments in the use of payment services and research show that prices affect customers' use of different payment services. Despite the price increase for most paper-based services, the weighted average price per transaction, at constant prices, has fallen since 1994. 9.

Unit costs 2001 NOK 15 14 13 12 11  1988 1994 2001  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0  Unit costs excluding Unit costs including cash withdrawals at cash withdrawals at the counter the counter  As you probably know, we also investigated the costs related to payment transactions in the largest banks and Norway Post in 1988 and 1994. At constant 2001 NOK, the cost per transaction fell from NOK 14.10 in 1988 to NOK 10.70 in 1994. In 2001, the average cost per transaction was NOK 5.30. Since 1988, the cost of an average transaction, at constant prices, has fallen by a good 60 per cent. Banks have steadily increased the scope of direct pricing so that the degree of cost coverage by means of direct pricing has nearly doubled both from 1988 to 1994 and from 1994 to 2001. In 2001, 70 per cent of costs were covered by means of direct pricing. 4  BIS Review 66/2002  6.
What in practice central bankers everywhere have to do is to try to keep aggregate demand growing consistently over time broadly in line with the underlying, sustainable, rate of growth of supply. And consistently low inflation is essentially the measure of our success in achieving that. Yes, we are all  BIS Review 76/2001  1  aiming for effective price stability, certainly. But that is not simply a doctrinaire end in itself - as is sometimes suggested, though not often here in Germany. It is a reflection, if you like, of our broader aim of achieving macro-economic stability in the much wider sense of a sustainable balance between aggregate demand and underlying supply. Insofar as we succeed in that aim we can hope thereby to moderate rather than aggravate cyclical fluctuations in the economy, and to remove much of the nominal uncertainty and related short-termism from economic decision-making. To that extent we can help indirectly to improve the supply-side performance of our economies. This is essentially the thought that underlies the universal central banker's mantra that "Price stability is a necessary condition for sustainable growth", not to mention sustainable high levels of employment and rising living standards, which are, of course, the really good things of macro-economic life. Now it is relatively easy to explain in these terms what we are trying to do. Actually doing it is a good deal harder!

And in terms of confidence effects, it would be a mistake to underestimate the resilience of the American people in the face of adversity. Either way I can assure you that the monetary authorities around the world are actively co-operating to minimise the immediate damage, and that they will certainly be monitoring - continuously and very closely - the emerging evidence of more lasting effects. They will react to that evidence in the light of the likely impact on their own situation. The US slowdown came at a particularly bad time for Japan. Japan was already suffering from a combination of weak domestic demand - particularly consumer demand - and supply-side constraints reflecting pressures on the banking system, heavily burdened with non-performing loans, as well as an acknowledged need for restructuring parts of the non-financial sector. Japan has pretty well exhausted the scope for macro-economic stimulus. Successive fiscal packages focussed on public works, and a sustained period of attempted monetary expansion, at near-zero interest rates in the face of deflation, have failed to overcome a high rate of precautionary saving by an ageing population facing an uncertain economic future. The policy emphasis of the new Japanese administration appears to have shifted towards firmer action to bring about supply-side reform in the belief that this will help to engender greater business and consumer confidence.