samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The new exchange rate mechanism may play a similar role. In this context, we should certainly wish to acknowledge the efforts which Sweden is making to achieve sustainable convergence with the euro area. We hope that the success of the euro in its early months will help to convince the Swedish population of the benefits of early participation in monetary union. Clearly, a decision to join ERM II would be important for fulfilling the convergence criterion of exchange rate stability and would help to smooth the transition to participation in the euro area. In recent months the external value of the euro has been influenced by the market view of the economic developments in the euro area relative to the United States. More recently other factors had an impact on the exchange rate of the euro vis-à-vis the dollar, in particular the conflict in Kosovo. From the beginning of the year to mid-May, the euro weakened against the dollar by about 10%. In nominal terms, measured against a trade-weighted basket of the currencies of the 15 most important trading partners of the euro area, the euro has weakened significantly less, i.e. by about 6% since its launch. However, rather than focusing on very short-term developments, one should look at long-term evolution. In that respect, it has to be observed that the current exchange rate of the euro against the dollar is not so very different from the levels observed in the first three quarters of 1998.

The Governing Council of the ECB is the central decision-making body in charge of monetary policy for the euro area. The Treaty on European Union – the Maastricht Treaty – assigns the ESCB the primary objective of maintaining price stability in the euro area. The implementation of monetary policy decisions taken centrally by the Governing Council rests with the Eurosystem, comprising the ECB and the national central banks (NCBs) of the member states which have adopted the euro in stage three of economic and monetary union. The respective operational tasks are to a large extent carried out in a decentralised manner by the NCBs. For the euro to become a success story as the single currency for around 300 million people, the confidence of European citizens in the stability of the new currency and in the Eurosystem is crucial. You would probably agree that the Eurosystem has already achieved a lot in terms of building up credibility and gaining a sound reputation in financial markets for its monetary policy in its early days. This will certainly facilitate the establishment of a stability culture throughout Europe. The foundation of this stability culture is a broad consensus among Europeans that the maintenance of price stability is of the utmost importance and is conducive to the achievement of other objectives such as high employment. Monetary policy and other policy areas By maintaining price stability in the euro area, we will ensure that the single monetary policy contributes as much as possible to economic growth and high employment.
Mr Gjedrem reports on the Norwegian economy and monetary policy in Norway  Speech given by Mr Svein Gjedrem, Governor of the Norges Bank, at the Royal Norwegian Embassy, in London on 28 October 1999. * 1. *  *  Introduction  Ambassador, ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to have this opportunity to speak to you about monetary policy in Norway. What happens in the financial community in London is important to the Norwegian economy: the financial markets here provide substantial loans for Norwegian firms, and are at the same time an important recipient of Norwegian financial investments. Short-term capital movements between United Kingdom and Norway are also important. Against this background, I would like to share with you information about the Norwegian economy. My focus will be on explaining distinctive aspects of the Norwegian economy, which is based largely on a limited number of commodities. My hope is that this understanding may help market operators to make informed decisions when dealing with Norwegian markets. 2. Background  Trend GDP growth in the Norwegian mainland economy is about 2–2¼%, and the inflation rate is around 2%. GDP per capita is slightly higher than in most other European countries. The high level of per capita income is partly a result of extensive revenues from oil and gas extraction. These revenues also allow Norway to operate with a substantial current account and government budget surplus. Extraction of North Sea oil started in the 1970s, and the production volume has increased over the years.

Fiscal policy has been fairly well adapted to the economic situation over the last decade. The active role it has played in demand management has functioned as an anchor for fiscal discipline. The Government Petroleum Fund is meant to be a buffer against changes in the terms of trade. In other countries this role must be filled by the exchange rate. Chart 12 How does the Norwegian regime differ from inflation targeting? • Co-operation: – Tradition of co-operation between political authorities and social partners – Wage-setting considering employment effects  • Fiscal policy: – Fiscal policy has financial leeway for stabilisation policy – Petroleum Fund buffer against terms of trade variability, not the exchange rate  • Monetary policy: – Different formulation of target – Different institutional setting Legg inn filadresse her  •  Monetary policy in Norway is oriented towards stability of the exchange rate and not an explicit inflation target. The setting of interest rates will more or less be the same. Norges Bank focuses on keeping a low rate of inflation and on avoiding a situation in which monetary policy in itself contributes to a recession that may threaten the fundamental conditions for stability of the krone. •  The institutional set-up for monetary policy in Norway is different. In a country with inflation targeting, the central bank will inform the political authorities if the inflation target is not met.
Having said that, the ECB would still like to see accounting standard setters take better account of financial stability implications when revising existing or creating new accounting standards, as for instance indicated by the IASB on the occasion of setting up the “enhanced technical dialogue” with prudential supervisors in 2009. One concrete and important area where the IASB can prove that it takes duly into account financial stability implications would be the on-going discussions on introducing more forward-looking provisioning. BIS Review 58/2010  3  In this sense, the ECB looks forward to continuing the close dialogue with the IASB on the accounting projects that lie ahead. More generally, please indicate two essential measures for financial regulation in the current debate. The ECB firmly believes that momentum should be maintained with regard to the global regulatory reform agenda. We need to ensure we put in place a regulatory framework that will enhance the resilience and stability of the global financial system. Under the aegis of the G20, the international community has agreed on a comprehensive set of measures that reflect a substantive revamp of the regulatory framework. Going forward, I would mention three key priority areas. First, the global community should commit to implementing the so-called Basel III proposals on capital and liquidity issued in December of last year. The ECB supports these proposals which are designed to put banks in the position to better withstand the effects of future crises.

Second, financial system transformation affects the implementation of monetary policy. I will give you an example. Our weekly main refinancing operations with money market counterparties are conducted on the basis of repurchase agreements ("repos"). This requires a list of eligible collateral for such operations. In a changing financial environment, a central bank has to ensure that eligible collateral allows market participants to have efficient and equal access to central bank liquidity. My third example of the importance of financial system transformation to central banks relates to the payment systems function. Most central banks in industrialised countries run a large-value payment system and are involved in the oversight of other payment and securities settlement systems. For reasons of efficient liquidity management by private banks, the Eurosystem's TARGET system allows for intra-day overdrafts that are fully collateralised. For TARGET to perform efficiently, it is therefore very important that securities settlement systems are interlinked or consolidated in a way which allows a smooth flow of collateral across the euro area. Fourth, past experience has shown that structural change in financial systems may have an impact on financial stability. Hence, the structure and modus operandi of the authorities responsible for supervising financial markets and institutions must be designed to prevent any instability from arising. This is, as you are aware, quite a topical issue in the European Union. Central banks have a genuine interest in this issue, which clearly has its origins in the Treaty on European Union.
Those models, measures and opinions are still valid tools, but need to be used in a correct manner, and need to be complemented by other tools and, more generally, by expert judgement. Risk managers should not simply take comfort in recent historical regularities and in wellestablished standards for risk measurement. Discomfort should be their habitat. All business areas of the institution should contribute and challenge the risk management function to look at risks in a different manner and to adopt better communication strategies. We have recently lived through many “what-ifs” that almost nobody thought of, and although risk management is all about dealing with uncertainty rather than making point forecasts, our warm and placid financial models, fed with short-sighted inputs, were not capable of adequately capturing the risks that ended up materialising. In hindsight it seems unbelievable that we believed in models that were predicting that nothing terrible could happen in 99 out of 100 years, usually using less than 10 years of data to construct such prediction. In the last 100 years, not counting the recent crisis, we have experienced 2 world wars, the Great Depression and an increasingly frequent number of financial crises affecting specific sectors and regions that have often been a source of contagion. It does not take a statistician to prove that the models were fundamentally misused. It just takes common sense, but as the saying goes, this may be the least common of the senses.

I will then discuss how the risk management function needs to be adjusted to the new economic and financial environment. Finally, I will quickly describe some of the challenges ahead for central banks as risk managers. 2. Lessons from the financial crisis  So let me start by referring to some of the key lessons from the financial crisis. From the selection of topics for this conference, with its focus on innovations in risk management and reforms to the regulatory frameworks, it is clear that we have learned very valuable lessons from the crisis. However, the fact that we are drawing lessons from the crisis is not only illustrated by the novelty of the issues under discussion, but also by the different approaches taken to examine topics that were regularly discussed in Risk and Return conferences in pre-crisis times. As examples of topics that were “usual suspects” in past conferences, but are now presented in a different manner, let me mention two specific issues: (1) the broadening of investment universes, and (2) the advantages in terms of yield pick-up of investing in new markets and asset classes. In the past the analysis on these issues would have typically concentrated on the return aspects and portfolio management considerations, with only limited space for risk-related considerations in the exposition, the latter usually consisting of some simple references to the tracking error of certain assets against the benchmark portfolios.
To make clearer in the regulation even the inclusion of yearend profit in the regulatory capital only after confirmation from the certified public accountant and by approval from the Audit Committee. It is proposed: to take into consideration both observations and submit a draft-decision for changing the regulation. Regulation “on capital adequacy” Observations: Classification of countries where reference is made to OECD member countries is a bit confused and another time, a list of 29 members is presented, while collateral in cash is not taken into consideration as a deductive element in the calculation of weighted risk assets. Concept of mortgaged credits that are weighted by 50 percent is very restrained and subject of confusion. It is proposed: to take into consideration the observations and submit a draft-decision for changing the regulation. Regulation “on market risk” It is proposed: to review it in the framework of new recommendations of Basel II. Focusing again on the problem of banking supervision I would like to underline that we, Bank of Albania as a supervisory institution, are determined to have at a possible maximum level a simple and easy supervision for being implemented, associated with a significant improvement of the on-site inspection. We shall intend that expectation and prevention power of our supervision gains new dimension. To this end we are in a process of finalising the negotiations with European partner institutions for launching a twinning project for the further consolidation of supervisory capacities of the Bank of Albania.

We have a great consideration on this Association and we hope that its role will further be enhanced in the future, particularly on the principled topics that will characterize the development of the banking system and that of the financial system in general in the years to come. Honored bankers, I hope you share the same opinion with me that we become recently witnesses of a qualitative development of the Albanian banking system. I use the opportunity to express that positive assessments on the banking system have been given also in the report prepared by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund after the completion of their assessment made on the Albanian financial system (FSAP-Financial System Assessment Program). Of course, this is good news. Conclusions of FSAP, of this important international passport, are an indication of our earliest conclusions that the Albanian financial system is characterized by a supervised and effective banking system and by other segments that are still in the first development stages where regulation and supervision remain a priority. Regardless of what I mentioned above, sincerely feeling myself as a part of the banking system I would envisage that it needs better and faster motivation to reach higher contemporary standards in all the aspects of the banking activity. BIS Review 39/2005  1  The banking system has experienced remarkable developments recently.
On the contrary, trends that have been observed over a period of several years continue to hold. The gradual slowdown in the growth of mortgage loans, whose rate of increase is now below 4%, is persisting. The growth in other lending is still picking up pace, confirming the momentum of the business cycle. These loans are now growing at a rate of 16%, which is faster than in the boom period of 1999 and 2000. At this rate, the level attained during that previous boom will soon be reached again. The behaviour of the monetary aggregates might appear to contradict movements in lending. However, we should not forget that money is a long-term indicator, while the other credits are an indicator that moves in line with the business cycle. In response to past increases in interest rates, a transfer from sight deposits and savings deposits to higher-yield term deposits is underway. Consequently, the M1 and M2 monetary aggregates, which do not include term deposits, are declining. M3, which incorporates all types of deposits, is registering very moderate growth compatible with more stable inflation in the medium and long term. Risks associated with the inflation outlook As usual, our assessment of the inflation outlook is embedded in the baseline scenario that we consider the most probable future development. However, the uncertainties associated with the scenario are greater than usual. This is due to a convergence of various trends with differing effects on the economy.

But it must be clear that beyond regulators and central banks, the private sector has also a key role to play to ensure that the digitalisation of finance indeed brings about the efficiency benefits it is expected to deliver without jeopardizing the stability of our financial system. From that perspective I would like to underline the strategic importance of the European Payments Initiative. 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  The EPI is currently the only project aiming to offer an integrated pan-European payment solution with a common brand, and not based on the interoperability of heterogeneous domestic solutions. I regret that part of the European banking community has prioritised other interests over a common, lasting project. This shrinking of the number of shareholders has inevitable consequences on the capacity of the initiative, leading EPI to give up on a European card scheme, and leaving this field open for international schemes in the short and medium term. On the other hand, we can also acknowledge that EPI has decided to invest in the next generation of payments: mobile, account-to-account and instant payments. Eight of the first ten European banks and the two largest European payment processors are part of the project. We therefore hope that the launch of the first EPI solutions, expected for the beginning of 2023, will convince other banking communities to join this new digital pan-European solution, which stands as a great chance for the European market to build the independence of the European payments market for the future.
6  3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  3  But many of the data standards currently used across the payments chain are either a legacy standard or not a standard at all – a bespoke format originally created for an internal processing system a generation before the internet. In today’s connected world, there are huge benefits to be gained from the whole payments chain moving to international standards which, when implemented properly, provide a seamless flow of data from one end to the other. Enter the standards produced by the International Organisation for Standardisation, ISO. Across technology and manufacturing it has produced over 24,000 standards for business and government to follow. I am going to focus on two today - ISO 20022 and how we plan to implement it for payments in the UK, and also ISO 17442, more commonly known as the Legal Entity Identifier – an important tool that can be carried within an ISO 20022 payments message. ISO 20022 consultation Given its characteristics, data standards are one area where we, as the Bank, can only do so much on our own. And this brings us back to why we are here today. In June this year, together with the PSR and Pay.UK, the operator of the retail payment schemes, we launched an ambitious consultation on our vision for implementing ISO 20022 in the major UK payment systems.

See: http://www.fsb.org/2012/06/fsb-report-global-legal-entity-identifier-for-financialmarkets/ 12 For example, in the charity sector, being able to quickly establish the identity of other international organisations, and cross-check with permissions granted under sanctions licenses, should make sure that humanitarian funds go to the correct recipient quickly. Likewise government could have the ability to more closely track contract awards and also make it easier to bring SMEs into tendering processes by establishing an accurate picture of smaller firms and their identities. It will also help financial institutions to improve existing AML checks, by being able to identify the full range of entities involved in the payments chain, which will provide a broader social benefit globally by helping stop fraud and terrorism. 5  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  5  Because of the benefits the Bank sees in LEIs, our consultation response outlined that we will make them a mandatory feature of transactions between financial institutions in CHAPS. But in order to unlock the LEI’s full potential we need to encourage the adoption of LEIs amongst all those who use payment messages, not just within the financial services industry, but in all sectors of the economy, including corporates. The opportunity of the infrastructure upgrade as part of RTGS Renewal, and similar opportunities in future, could provide the appropriate levers to encourage this broader take up of LEIs - to maximise the benefits of this public good.
The relative de-emphasis of institutions and values since the middle of the 20th century did not reflect a lack of recognition of their significance in affecting economic behaviour and public policy. I would argue that it was largely the result of various factors and assumptions: first, that for a given country institutions and values could be taken as given elements of the broader economic environment that evolved very gradually over time; second, that their effects on economic behaviour were indirect and relatively small, compared with the influence of other determining factors of demand and supply; and third, that their role in explaining market developments and economic relationships would be captured in terms of two key fundamental market determinants: “productive technology” and “preferences” of economic agents and authorities. There are two key questions of scientific and policy relevance. First, what are the underlying factors and forces that shape preferences, drive scientific and technological advances, foster innovation and nurture an entrepreneurial spirit that ultimately are encapsulated in the economy’s production processes and the functioning of markets? Second, to what extent does the observed economic performance of nations reflect these underlying factors and forces, which may be partly captured by economic institutions and prevailing economic cultures and social models? Since the late 1990s, increasing attention has been paid by economists and policy-makers to finding answers to these questions.

Were that in doubt, consider that, in 2002, Churchill was voted “the greatest ever Briton” in a BBC poll. Or that he continues to command vast international recognition as a hero of the free world. Churchill’s contributions extended beyond his pivotal roles in the nation’s martial and political histories. He is the only British Prime Minister to have won the Nobel Prize in literature. He was a prodigious painter, and, perhaps thankfully, the only Prime Minister to enter the music charts. The wisdom of his witticisms is legion, extending as far as the dismal science. Central bank forecasters can identify closely with his advice that, “it is a much better policy to prophesy after the event has already taken place.” Polymer But in some prophesies we can be confident: for example that our new polymer banknotes, of which The New Fiver is the first, will stand the test of time. Polymer marks a major innovation. It is cleaner, safer, and stronger. It is resistant to dirt and moisture, so the note won’t wear out as quickly as the current fivers but will stay in good condition for longer. It is stronger than paper and can better withstand being repeatedly folded into wallets or scrunched up inside pockets. Polymer notes can survive a splash of Claret, a flick of cigar ash, the nip of a bulldog, and even a spin in the washing machine afterwards to boot.