samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The latest three-month average of M3 growth, covering the period from May to July 1999, rose to 5.4%, compared with 5.3% in the previous three-month period from April to June 1999. Overall, the annual rate of growth of M3 has been moving away from the reference value of 4.5% since the start of the year. This upward movement may be explained to a large extent by the very low opportunity costs of holding monetary assets, especially the most liquid components, but perhaps also by the gradually improving economic conditions in the euro area. At the same time, the annual growth rate of credit to the private sector remained high, even though it declined by 0.5 percentage point in July, to 10.4%. The monetary policy strategy of the Eurosystem assigns a prominent role to the behaviour of M3. Accordingly, recent monetary developments merit close attention. At the same time, taking into account the fact that we are still in a very early phase of Monetary Union and that figures for broad money growth have been subject to some revisions in recent months, shorter-term monetary developments need to be interpreted with caution. Concerning financial market indicators, the upturn in long-term interest rates in the euro area, seen since early May, continued in August and early September. Domestic factors seem to have played a dominant role, as indicated by the fact that differentials between US and euro area bond yields have narrowed further.

Indeed, it would be surprising if a new regulatory framework as complex as Solvency II had no shortcomings. In our experience there have been fewer challenges for general insurers in implementing Solvency II, largely because the net impact of the changes in the balance sheet and capital has been smaller. However, for life insurers with long-dated liabilities such as annuities – and especially in the current low interest rate environment – a significant limitation is the design of the risk margin, which is currently too sensitive to the level of risk-free rates. As the Financial Policy Committee stated in its December 2016 Financial Stability Report, addressing this excess sensitivity would have macroprudential benefits. The European Commission has committed to review the design of the risk margin in its forthcoming review of Solvency II and we regard it as a key priority. The PRA has looked at whether it would be possible to fix the problems locally through our own supervisory implementation but concluded that changes to the existing legislation would be more effective and desirable. The risk margin is calculated by multiplying a fixed cost of capital (6%) by the net present value of future capital requirements. It is intended to provide the financial resources necessary to cover the return on the capital a hypothetical acquirer would need to run off the insurance liabilities.
In addition to this bill, at least three other bills have been introduced into Congress within the past five months that propose specific rules for electronic signatures. The Electronic Financial Services Efficiency Act introduced by Representatives Baker and Dreier (H.R. 2937) on November 8, 1997 is by far the most comprehensive of the three. The Baker bill would place electronic authentication methods on par with traditional written signatures provided that they reliably establish the identity of the sender or maker of the electronic communication, and reliably verify that the message has not been altered. Public key cryptography and signature dynamics technology are specifically recognized as trustworthy electronic authentication techniques. Other technologies would be deemed satisfactory if they meet certain criteria. One aspect of the Baker bill which has generated a lot of interest is its establishment of an industry self-regulatory organization along the lines of the National Association of Securities Dealers. Any person or entity -- not just a certification authority -- wishing to provide electronic authentication services in the United States would have to be registered with the SRO. The SRO would establish a committee, supervised by the Department of Treasury, to develop, refine, and apply standards respecting the role and responsibilities of parties involved in electronic authentication services and the licensing and registration of certification authorities.

However, in more recent weeks, the more positive data in the US has resulted in some flow-back to the US markets. This more variegated and dynamic landscape means financial markets are likely to remain volatile in the months ahead. We need to be prepared to manage this volatility. 9. Second, policymakers not only have to grapple with the aftermath of the financial crisis, but also the medium term structural challenges facing their countries. There are significant differences in the pattern of saving and investment across economies. Many of these reflect structural factors such as demographics, as well as the particular path of growth and development. To sustain global growth, some changes in the global saving-investment pattern will be necessary. This cannot happen overnight. Instead, we need sustained and coordinated policy action across all the major economies. The IMF and global bodies like the G20 will have to continue to focus and provide direction on these structural issues. 10. Third, the financial crisis shows how critical the nexus is between the health of the financial system and the health of the economy. Global regulatory reforms are necessary to address many of the weaknesses uncovered during the crisis. Yet, we have to tread a fine balance to build not just have a resilient global financial system, but also one that can support sustainable economic growth. Given the varying pace of economic recovery and the different phases of economic transition, regulations need to be appropriate to local circumstances, while preventing regulatory arbitrage.
Given your vast experience in the area of takaful, both domestically and globally, we believe that the industry players will provide valuable contribution towards the formulation of the IFSB international takaful standards. Your experience and inputs on issues are relevant to or have impact on the regulation and supervision of the takaful industry. Malaysia as takaful & retakaful hub Let me now turn to the final part of my address by sharing Malaysia's latest initiatives to strengthen its position as a takaful and retakaful centre. I.  MIFC initiatives  Malaysia aims at enhancing its inter-linkages with the global Islamic financial markets. Among these are its continuous efforts to not only develop the financial infrastructure of the takaful industry but to also implement measures and initiatives that will strengthen our position as an international takaful and retakaful centre. Besides allowing up to 49% of foreign equity participation in domestic takaful operators, the Malaysian Government has also launched an initiative known as the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre or MIFC. The MIFC initiatives are specifically undertaken by the collective efforts of the country's financial and market regulators, including Bank Negara Malaysia , the Securities Commission, the Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority and Bursa Malaysia, together with the participation of representatives of the banking, takaful and capital market sectors. It is aimed at building greater intermediation linkages between East Asia, South Asia and the Middle East which will, in turn, further expand inter-regional trade and cross border investment flows.

On that note, I wish you a successful and productive Convention. Wabillahi taufik walhidayah. Assalamualaikum warah matullah hi wabarakatuh. BIS Review 95/2007  5
Household wealth and debt Per cent of disposable income 350  350 Financial wealth (excluding tenant-owned apartments and collective insurance schemes) Real wealth  300  300  Debt  250  250  200  200  150  150  100  100  50  50 70  80  90  00  10  Note. The broken line is the Riksbank’s latest forecast (from the Monetary Policy Report, February 2013). Sources: Statistics Sweden and the Riksbank. 10  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Developments on the Swedish housing market thus appear to be much calmer now than before the financial crisis. However, it is of course important to constantly analyse whether developments can pose risks to financial or macroeconomic stability. The development of household indebtedness could lead to problems if housing prices began to fall for some reason or if unemployment began to increase sharply in connection with a downturn. In order to assess to what extent this constitutes a risk we need to analyse the risk of a fall in housing prices and the extent to which the level of debt makes the households vulnerable. In the case of the latter, it is important to determine what assets the households have in addition to their housing. The relatively high level of private saving in Sweden is an advantage here as it has led to a situation in which the households have relatively substantial financial assets (see Figure 9).

MAS has stepped up its monitoring of the cyber threat landscape and issued a number of advisories to financial institutions on: 9 / 15  BIS central bankers' speeches  ensuring their IT infrastructure is secure and resilient; adopting additional risk mitigating measures and precautions; staying vigilant against new types of cyber attacks; reminding staff working from home to observe cyber security; and advising customers of safeguards that they should take to protect themselves against phishing attacks and online scams. POSITIONING THE FINANCIAL SECTOR TO EMERGE STRONGER Let me now provide an update on the financial sector, which continues to do remarkably well. Last year, the financial services sector outperformed the overall economy, achieving value-added growth of 4.1%, compared to GDP growth of 0.7%. For the first half of this year, MAS estimates that financial services grew by about 5%, even faster than last year. This was mainly due to exceptionally strong growth in the first quarter, driven by offshore bank lending, re-insurance and life insurance activities. MAS expects growth in the sector to moderate during the second half due to weaker credit demand and lower interest rate margins. But the sector is not likely to contract. Last year, there was a net increase of about 4,900 [5] jobs in financial services and FinTech. So far this year, employment in financial services and FinTech has remained firm. Net jobs grew by 2,200 in the first quarter as banks continued to employ for roles such as business development, financial analysis, and software development.
The BoA has progressed in reforming the banking system towards international standards, with the aim of the developing and refining the country’s banking infrastructure. AIPS, inaugurated in early March 2004, can be considered as the backbone of the whole banking system infrastructure. The BoA wishes to bring its central bank closer to that of the European Central Bank. Therefore, changes and amendments of the Bank’s regulations are aimed towards achieving this goal. BIS Review 49/2004  1

By no means all this foreign currencydenominated credit has been provided to domestic businesses and households that have foreign currency income or other hedges against exchange risk. This poses a particular risk for borrowers and lenders alike. Foreign debt of deposit money banks at the end of January 2004 had risen year-on-year by almost 300 b.kr., or two-thirds. There are probably a number of explanations for this strong demand for foreign borrowing. Firstly, it is connected with changes in Icelandic business structures and ownership. Following the privatisation of state banks, investors have been actively involved in dissolving the old links in business ownership and forging new ones. Foreign funding, mediated by the banks, has played a key role in these events. Secondly, conditions in international finance markets have been  BIS Review 18/2004  3  favourable for such reshuffling. Foreign short-term interest rates are close to a historical low and foreign long-term interest rates are still very low, although they have risen above the nadir they reached around the middle of last year. Thirdly, Iceland enjoys economic stability and growth prospects are favourable for the next few years. In December last year the Central Bank sent a letter to chief executives of the commercial banks and largest savings bank expressing concern about the rapid increase in lending and high levels of foreign short-term financing. As is generally the case people responded in different ways, and some pointed the finger elsewhere.
It also begs the question of what is preventing the diffusion of processes and technologies used in one firm to other firms operating in a similar region or sector. Are there barriers to technological diffusion, legal or competitive, which are stymieing productivity trickle-down? Are first-mover advantages and economies of scale simply larger for frontier firms these days, entrenching their advantages? Could more be done by frontier companies to promulgate their practices to companies lower down the supply-chain? I do not know the answers. But finding them strikes me as key for unlocking the growth and productivity potential of the long tail of companies and hence of UK PLC. Conclusion  The UK, perhaps more than any other country in the European Union, is an agglomeration of quite different micro-economies – micro-economies of high and low incomes, high and low skills, high and low investment, high and low productivities, Red and Blue Car regions. Closing these gaps would not only boost the size of the aggregate economic pie, but would lead to a more equitable distribution of its slices. 15  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  15  As much as anywhere in the UK, the North-East exemplifies some of those challenges. Incomes and productivities are towards the bottom of the UK league table and unemployment rates towards the top. In many ways it could be seen as a Red Car region. With these differences so large, it would be easy to view the UK glass, economically and socially, as half-empty.

Raising living standards could be achieved by simply keeping the printing presses running. Countries that have done so have found this tends to end, not in triumph, but disaster. Monetary policy is also unable to influence the distribution of outcomes across the economy over medium-term horizons. The reason is that central banks cannot set different interest rates for different sectors or regions, for different households or companies, or for borrowers and lenders. 15  Monetary  policymakers are, at least in normal times, one club golfers. None of this is to suggest that monetary policy is entirely unimportant in its impact on the size of the economic pie, and its distribution, over shorter-run horizons. As our two-car economy example illustrated, it is perfectly possible for monetary policy to influence both aggregate income, and its distribution, in the shorter run. That being the case, it is worth assessing the evidence on that over recent years. (a) Aggregate Impact  Starting with the impact of monetary policy on aggregate activity, since the dawn of the global financial crisis monetary policy has been loosened significantly in a large number of countries around the world, using a combination of lower official interest rates and, in some cases, asset purchases or QE. These measures have aimed to cushion the impact of the financial crisis on the economy and on jobs. 14 15  Not all economists agree on this, for example see Aghion and Howitt (1998).
This takes place through bilateral meetings, group discussions, and phone calls, supplemented by all of the screens and data analysis on our modern trading floor. But compared to the time of the “Senior Broker”, the coverage of Market Intelligence has expanded dramatically. The markets in which the Bank operates (i.e. short term money, fixed income and currency markets) continue to provide the natural starting point for our Market Intelligence. But in recognition of the fact that threats to the Bank’s ability to achieve its core purposes can have their origins anywhere, coverage has now expanded to 23 different markets as far afield as structured products and emerging markets, covered by 80 analysts across the Bank for whom MI is a significant part of their job. This first-hand information differs from what can be gathered from our Bloomberg screens, analyst reports, and research – and it provides an important perspective on both short-term moves and long-term trends. It permeates every part of the organisation: every morning the Governors get together to receive an in depth briefing on financial markets from Chris Salmon, the Executive Director for Markets, and part of my job is to brief the MPC on recent market developments and its implications for monetary policy. MI also feeds into more strategic issues and the policy decisions of the Committees.

As public servants they contribute every day to delivering our mission to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability. The changes we are making public today will ensure they can continue to do that important work effectively. 7. Open about our business  The Bank’s balance sheet has been at the heart of the financial system for over 300 years, and remains our most important policy tool. The innovations and adaptations in recent years have meant that it has been central to the flexible and effective response to all of the major policy challenges faced by the Bank since the onset of the financial crisis. And I am sure it will be a vital part of everything we do in future. Over that period, we have re-learnt one of Bagehot’s lessons – that ambiguity is rarely constructive. Policy is at its most effective when it is clearly communicated. We have taken major steps to improve communications around our monetary policy decisions, the framework we use to provide liquidity to the financial system, and the way we use Market Intelligence. Those changes show that the Bank of England is not just “open for business,” we are also “open about our business.”  11  http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/Pages/mireview.aspx.
Public finances are also perceived to be sound, where risks are relatively low and liquidity is high. Given that our external vulnerability remains low, although additional borrowing by the government will contribute to an increase in the current account deficit, risks on the external front and the implications of additional public sector borrowing will remain low and limited. Even though we have been hit hard and harder than other countries and that our recovery is likely to take longer and be more uneven, the resilient economy is there. The downside risks of seeing a sharp decline stemming from weaknesses on the balance of payment front, the banking front, or the public finance front thus remain quite limited. Page 3 of 9  Part 2: The Bank of Thailand’s Response to The Crisis Let me now turn to the second part of my remarks, which is what we, at the Bank of Thailand, have been doing. To summarize very briefly, the Bank of Thailand has taken a flexible and pragmatic approach to addressing the crisis. We are willing to do, have been willing to do, and remain willing to do what it takes to get us out of this crisis. The statement, which we have been using internally, is to say that all reasonable policy options are on the table to respond to this unmitigated crisis that we are facing now. First and foremost, we have tried to ensure that financial conditions remain accommodative to support and facilitate the recovery.

All the theories of the ruble exchange rate pegged to a certain ruble price of oil originated from considerations of budget balance and concerns that the central bank would intentionally generate inflation to finance budget liabilities. That is the Bank of Russia was suspected of being ready to give up inflation targeting for the sake of budget replenishment. It took us many months to persuade the market of the opposite. Does Russia have a potential to build up government debt? Yes, it does, in theory, since our country may boast one of the lowest levels of government debt. Consequently, the development of the government debt market could be conducive to the development of the financial system as a whole. Anyway I would proceed from the conservative assessments of the maximum possible debt burden on the Russian economy, which does not pose a threat to macroeconomic stability, say, no more than 25–30% of GDP. Anyway examples from the Russian history show that the real interest rates the Russian budget has to pay, should the government debt exceed 35–40%, became exorbitant and accelerated the debt spiral. Among the negative outcome of government debt growth I may also call the ousting of corporate and private borrowers by the state. By the way, the maximum permissible debt burden is higher in the countries witnessing persistently low inflation and persistently low inflation expectations. The long-term real interest rates in these countries are lower, which means that debt burden limits are higher.
This meant that private sector solutions were prioritised, as has been seen in the processes that have unfolded in the past few months. Today, it is fair to say that the restructuring and recapitalisation of Spain’s financial institutions is well under way. It is now just a case of formalising and implementing the agreements reached. As a result, Spain’s deposit institutions that did not already have sufficient capital have now secured it, either from the markets or from the FROB. The Banco  8  BIS Review 86/2010  de España has conducted stress tests to verify that all institutions – banks, savings banks and credit co-operatives – will actually have sufficient capital available, not only for what would currently seem to be the most reasonable scenarios, but also for complex growth scenarios in the near future. Accordingly, before end-June, the Banco de España will take the steps necessary to formalise the processes already agreed and to ensure they are correctly implemented. If, by month-end, any of these processes has failed, or any institution has been left behind, the Bank will act, using the mechanisms envisaged for this purpose in the FROB legislation. Moreover, the Bank intends to publish the results of these stress tests, to reveal the deterioration estimated, the consequent capital requirements and the capital funding committed, to provide the markets with a perfectly clear idea of the situation of the Spanish banking system.

Miguel Fernández Ordóñez: Presentation of the Annual Report 2009 Address by Mr Miguel Fernández Ordóñez, Governor of the Bank of Spain, to the Governing Council of the Bank of Spain on the Presentation of the Annual Report 2009, Madrid, 16 June 2010. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, The presentation of the Annual Report for 2009 is taking place at a particularly complex juncture for Europe and, most especially, for the Spanish economy. What began as an isolated fiscal crisis episode in a euro area Member State has turned into an event of systemic scope that has obliged the European authorities and national governments to adopt measures on an unprecedented scale to defend the stability of the area. At the same time, the spread and heightening of tensions have firmly focused analysts’ and markets’ attention on the situation and on economic policy responses in those countries which, like Spain, face comparatively more demanding challenges and are, consequently, perceived as potentially more vulnerable. This is a demanding conjunctural situation, for which it is difficult to find points of reference in our recent past. And more than ever before, it is important to diagnose accurately the true scale of the challenges our economy faces, to prepare promptly the tools needed to meet the challenges and to use them as decisively and forcefully as the situation requires.