samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
In response, and echoing Roosevelt in 1938, President Bush granted the SEC authority to suspend fair value rules. Although this authority was not invoked, it demonstrated a willingness to provide system-wide forbearance through fair value accounting rules. Today, the self-same cycle is in motion. During the long pre-crisis boom, fair value principles gained ground, in particular in the valuation of debt, equity and derivatives: in the US, through Statement of Financial Accounting Standard 157 (SFAS 157); internationally, through International Accounting Standard 39 (IAS 39). As in the roaring ‘20s, rising asset prices, marked to market, inflated bank profits and balance sheets. Between 2000 and 2007, major international banks recorded accumulated gains in their trading book totalling over £ billion. But as the crisis tide has turned, with falling asset prices and failing banks, so too has the fair value debate. In 2008, under intense pressure from an ailing banking community, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) eased back on fair value accounting rules. For example, banks were allowed to switch financial instruments from trading to holding to avoid mark-to market requirements. So, historically, fair value accounting principles have gained ground when the going has been good, and lost it when it has got tough. From a financial stability perspective, this is a cause for concern. To see why, consider how banks’ balance sheets then appear to investors. During the asset upswing, fair value gains ground. Mark-to-market gains are booked as profits.

It has a history stretching back at least a century. The fortunes of this debate have been shaped importantly by financial crises. Indeed, a clear historical pattern has emerged: fair value accounting principles have waxed when asset prices and banks are rising and waned when both are falling.2 Consider experience in the United States either side of the Great Depression. Fair value principles were rolled-out progressively during the early part of the 20th century. This move was led by the banks who held marketable securities as assets. As these securities rose in value ahead of the Great Crash, marking them to market allowed profits to be booked. Rising asset prices and bank profits went hand in hand, with fair values playing the role of matchmaker. That was one reason why the “roaring ‘20s” roared. The stock market crash of 1929 put paid to this happy marriage. Falling asset prices, marked to market, crushed bank profits and balance sheets. In the United States, around 10,000 banks went bust between 1929 and 1938. Fair values were now seen as more troublemaker than matchmaker. Pressures to suspend fair values, from banks, regulators and politicians, began to mount. By 1938, after an initial recovery from the Great Crash, the United States was bracing itself for a double-dip recession. In response, under pressure from the Federal Reserve, President Roosevelt suspended fair valuation of investment bank assets.
Mr Chairman, learning from others, some of the obstacles facing the leasing companies, include inability to attract funding and lack of adequate leasing expertise, can be overcome through formation of synergies and partnership with other industry players. I understand in the USA, for example, over 70% of leases are actually written through lease intermediary companies or brokers, who use their specialised skills to structure lease transactions in the best way possible for the benefit of both the lessee and the lease underwriter. Lease syndications and funding partnerships with bigger players should also be encouraged as these help to spread risk and reduce pressures on balance sheets of individual leasing companies. Ladies and Gentlemen, you will agree with me that there is vast untapped potential of leasing activities in this country. There is need to develop this line of business further. A developed leasing sector is characterized by a diverse range of financial services that include factoring and trade finance, term lending, corporate finance and investment advisory services, and corporate restructuring, treasury management as well as traditional leasing activities. But this is not the case in Zambia at  2  BIS Review 17/2007  present. Currently, the leasing sector is restricted primarily to the traditional leasing activities. This seminar has thus come at the right time, as the lessons learnt are vital to complement the Government’s efforts not only to develop the leasing sector, but the financial sector as a whole.

In the banking sector, there have been no bank failures in the recent past, reflecting stability in the financial sector Mr Chairman, the Government has shown commitment to continuing the economic reform programme. To this end, measures are being taken to ensure that the macroeconomic gains attained so far will be consolidated in 2007. Accordingly, Government is targeting Real GDP growth of 7.0% and inflation of 5.0%. Pursuit of these objectives is within the context of the long-term development objectives well articulated in the national long term vision, 2030. Part of this vision is enshrined in the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) from 2006-2010 whose broad macroeconomic objectives for the plan period are as follows: •  to accelerate pro-poor economic growth;  •  to reduce and stabilise inflation; and  •  to sustain a viable balance of payments and external and domestic debt position. At this juncture, Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to share with you my understanding of the role of the leasing sector in economic growth. Clearly, the remarkable economic gains that I have outlined above would not have been possible without the leasing sector’s contribution. Leasing companies are specialized lenders that provide asset-backed finance. The assets financed by leasing companies include plant and machinery and motor vehicles. Traditionally, these assets have excluded chattels or personal moveable assets. Though the leasing sector has existed in Zambia since independence, the formal supervision of the leasing sector by the Bank of Zambia only began in the 1990s.
In the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Congress required the Board of Governors to consult with the Secretary of the Treasury on regulations to implement its emergency powers.20 It also required that the Board of Governors obtain the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury before extending emergency credit.21 To some extent, the Dodd-Frank Act codified reality. The Board of Governors and the Department of the Treasury worked closely throughout the Financial Crisis of 2008. But Congress formalized a degree of cooperation that can make it hard to draw a theoretical line between monetary and fiscal authority—or between an independent agency and a political department. I should add that this working relationship between our country's monetary and fiscal authorities deepened following the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery and Economic Stimulus Act—known as the "CARES Act." That statute appropriated roughly $ trillion in economic relief. Congress sent about a quarter of that money to the Treasury for investments in Federal Reserve programs and facilities. I look forward, in the fullness of time, to more theoretical discussions about the proper role of a central bank in administering emergency economic relief. Some of this dialogue has already begun.22 Questions that catch my interest include: What should be the guiding principles and constraints on the design and establishment of 13(3) facilities?

Christian Noyer: International financial stability Speech by Mr Christian Noyer, Governor of the Bank of France and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, at the Lloyd’s City Dinner, London, 29 September 2010. *  *  *  Although the financial crisis originated in one country, it quickly became apparent that it was truly global in nature, both in terms of its mechanisms and its consequences. It brought home a simple message: capital markets are closely interlinked around the world and, thus, domestic and international financial stability cannot be dissociated. Today, I would like to reflect upon international financial stability: what it means, whether or not it should be pursued as a major policy objective; and finally, what actions should be taken and which instruments should be employed. The views expressed are my own and do not represent an official position. However, as you know, next year France will hold the Presidency of the G20 and, bearing this in mind, I will try and offer my own thoughts. International financial stability: what does it mean? Over the last decades increased financial integration has led to greater reallocation of savings across countries. The expansion of gross and net capital flows has been spectacular. As a result current account imbalances have increased both in amplitude and durability. In fact, they have become a permanent feature of our economic environment. Many analysts would argue that these imbalances are the ultimate cause of the crisis. I would not go that far.
In 2013 to date, we have achieved a net financing position with the external sector, a trend which will foreseeably continue and become more accentuated over the rest of the year, to the point of placing the overall balance of payments on current and capital account for the whole of 2013 at over 2% of GDP. Nonetheless, the accumulation of major external deficits between 2007 and 2011 (amounting, over these five years, to € billion, 32% of our GDP in 2012) has led to a high debit international investment position, and years will be needed to reasonably reduce our dependence on external saving. Private-sector deleveraging continues to progress, although the unfavourable course of income is checking the speed of the process. It is moreover likely that debt/income rebalancing will prolong the contraction of credit at the aggregate level, although we may expect its impact to be increasingly less. This is compatible with a reallocation of funds towards the more productive agents with healthier financial positions. In any event, measures are needed aimed at reallocating funds towards firms with greater potential in terms of activity and employment and with financing difficulties, a situation particularly prevalent among small and medium-sized enterprises. Fiscal consolidation Let me now address the public finances situation. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  The general government deficit target for 2013, at 6.5% of GDP, entails a reduction of almost 5 pp from its 2009 of 11.2% of GDP.

Continued implementation of prudent monetary and fiscal policies, fairly favourable developments in the exchange rate coupled with pro-growth and pro-poor agricultural policies that have led to an increase in food supply and subsequent improvement in the country’s food security largely explain the favourable developments in inflation. For instance, the country recorded an increase in maize surplus to 250,000 metric tons (mt) this consumption period from 160,000 mt during the 2006/2007 consumption period. With respect to the money market, given lower inflation and yield rates on Government securities, commercial banks lending rates have been on the downward path. This can be illustrated by the nominal average lending rates which declined to around 28% in December 2006 from about 34% in December 2005, and further fell to 24.3% in September 2007. This is consistent with Government’s desire of making more funds available for priority sectors of our economy at reasonable cost, in line with the objectives the Fifth National Development Plan, 2006-2010. Ladies and gentlemen, testimony to this was the recent lowering of the statutory reserve ratio by the Bank of Zambia to 8% from 14% effective 1st October 2007. We expect this action, will release more funds to the commercial banks for on-ward lending to the priority sectors. Availability of investible funds to sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and mining will stimulate further growth in the economy, create more employment and incomes, and contribute to alleviation of poverty.
At the same time, households unaffected by the stockmarket fall that are younger and unconcerned about their future income may have continued to demand expensive dwellings since the interest costs have been so low. As the available statistics are mainly at an aggregated level, however, it is difficult to find evidence of the behaviour behind what we have seen. But if this interpretation holds, it is reasonable that consumption picks up when labour market uncertainty diminishes and when wealth has been restored by a combination of saving and rising asset prices. The current situation for monetary policy With that I shall move on to say something about our main scenario for economic developments in the years ahead. The international picture The outlook in the rest of the world is mainly bright. As we see it, international growth will remain high this year. Conditions are also favourable for a continuation of high growth in the next few years, although we do count on a somewhat more subdued rate than last year. Important driving forces are persistently strong economic activity in the USA and further powerful economic expansion in China and the rest of Asia. Last spring there were some signals that the slowdown in the international economy would be more marked than we had counted on earlier. It was mainly growth in the euro area that seemed to have become more subdued than expected. In June, our main assessment was that this amounted to a temporary dip in international activity.

Provided households’ borrowing decisions have a rational basis and accordingly include realistic assumptions about future interest expenditure, there is nothing to suggest that higher interest rates will have drastic consequences. This applies to the effects of increased interest expenditure on house prices as well as on consumption. Still, one cannot disregard the risk that some households have been over-optimistic about their future incomes and the future level of interest rates. More than 70 per cent of new lending is currently arranged at a variable interest rate. Moreover, the present level of interest rates is considerably below what the financial markets assume it will be in time. So the households that choose to stick to a variable rate must count on considerably increased interest expenditure further ahead, if interest rates develop in line with market expectations. Furthermore, during the past year the credit spread between a risk-free government bond and a housing bond has been virtually nil. All in all, mortgage institu-tions have therefore been able to offer very low rates even for fixed-interest loans. The combination of high house prices and low interest rates has meant that many households have acquired very large liabilities. In that interest rates have been pushed down by a large variety of partly temporary factors, it is not inconceivable that their level will double. That may entail a heavy burden for many households and one cannot be sure they realised this when they decided to borrow so much.
New, cost-effective solutions such as QR payments and “Tap-on-Phone”, which leverage on the already high penetration of smartphones in Malaysia, may be preferred over traditional POS terminals. Indeed, we are encouraged to see that industry players are starting to roll out interoperable solutions. Notably, these include several pilot initiatives ahead of the nationwide roll-out of PayNet’s Interoperable 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  QR payment solution. Such solution has the potential to become a game-changer by facilitating merchants to accept payments from customers of different participating banks and non-banks by using only a unified QR code. Beyond that, we should accelerate the digitisation of the value chain for both users and merchants. This could include digitising salary payments, and payments to suppliers, wholesalers and distributors. These developments would make it more compelling for consumers and businesses to maintain funds digitally, thereby providing a natural incentive to keep using and accepting e-payments. The second key area is on strengthening public confidence. Some segments of the population may still lack awareness and confidence in e-payments, despite fraud levels being relatively low in Malaysia. Some consumers are also concerned about overspending, as they are used to relying on cash withdrawals as a way to budget and control expenses. These are cognitive barriers that can be overcome with concerted efforts. Banks and non-banks alike should intensify efforts on awareness-building and education campaigns. These could focus on use cases that are central to day-to-day life, such as paying for fuel, groceries and F&B.

This sets out baseline standards for financial institutions, and addresses key fundamentals of technology resilience including governance, cybersecurity risk management as well as capacity-building. Conclusion These are exciting times, where rapid technological innovations, evolving business models and shifting customer preferences, present new opportunities and challenges to the status quo. Such opportunities can bring about a positive and transformational impact to our society and economy. We should be bold to capitalize on these emerging trends, while remaining steadfast in managing the associated risks. Times are changing, and change is good. It takes us out of our comfort zones, and helps us reach new heights. Before I close, I would like to congratulate all the winners of today’s ceremony and I wish you all a pleasant evening ahead. 4/4  BIS central bankers' speeches
That is the price society pays for maturity transformation and the other services provided by the financial sector – services that produce large public benefits. But I doubt that this should be the end of the story – we also have some control over the amplitude of booms and the severity of the busts. Although it is impossible to attribute the instability of financial markets to any one single driving force, recent experience suggests that in many cases innovation plays an important role. I explore this point further in the printed version of my remarks – but for the purposes of our discussion today let me summarize it by saying that innovations that initially create real value generate feedback mechanisms that often fuel the development of excessive expectations – a boom that eventually reverses when the basic belief system that sustained it is contradicted by events. Such innovations can occur in the real economy – consider the Internet – or in the financial sector – think of subprime lending and structured finance products. Although the role of innovation has differed across various booms and busts, some important common elements are evident in many of these episodes. Early on in the cycle, an innovation can lead to changes in fundamental valuations or the creation of new markets and financial products. Examples of this might include the technology boom that followed the creation of the Internet or the subprime lending and the associated structured finance innovations that supported the housing boom.

Second, financial institutions and other market participants need access to high quality information in terms of the financial condition of their counterparties. Balance sheet information including capital and liquidity positions and counterparty exposures would enable financial market participants to more accurately assess the condition of those with which they do business. Increased transparency would reduce the level of uncertainty, which contributes to risk aversion and financial crises. Greater transparency in terms of off balance-sheet activities such as OTC derivatives exposures might also be helpful for the same reasons. Greater transparency is often unpopular because it may reduce market power and reveal business strategies and, thereby, limit profits. But the private loss of profit opportunities must be balanced against the public good of greater financial stability. Such steps reinforce the work underway to make the major financial intermediaries and financial market infrastructures more resistant to shocks when they inevitably occur. This includes appropriate capital and liquidity requirements and appropriate risk management practices for banks and financial market infrastructures. Finally, when institutions do get into difficulty we need a credible way of enabling these institutions to recover or, if recovery is not possible, to be resolved in an orderly manner so that failure of any one institution doesn’t threaten to bring down the rest of the financial system. So how are we doing relative to the agenda that I have laid out? In my opinion, we have made a good start, but there is a long ways to go.
The Labuan IBFC's competitiveness will be further enhanced through a revision of the pricing structure pertaining to incorporation and maintenance fee charges. There will be an annual reviews and prices will be revised in response to competitive market developments. The Labuan IBFC will also leverage on the national strategy of the Malaysian Islamic Financial Centre by promoting Syariah-compliant trusts and foundation. These products will complement Islamic financial products and services already available in Kuala Lumpur. Efforts will also be taken to further develop Labuan's captive insurance business which has enjoyed commendable growth over the years. Conclusion Ladies and Gentlemen, The establishment of Labuan as an international offshore financial centre in 1990 was indeed a bold step in its time. We are now seeing the payoffs from this initiative. With the transformation of Labuan as an International Business and Financial Centre, our ambition will be taken further. The new name signals that Labuan is ready to take on the much broader and larger role. The new name also represents a commitment. A commitment for the future. To demonstrate this commitment, the Government and the regulators have put in place the supportive and enabling environment to promote a more connected and more cost effective environment. Continued initiatives will also be taken to remove any impediments and obstacles to a more efficient delivery system and to advance forward the Labuan IBFC. 2  BIS Review 10/2008  The responsibility for ensuring the ambitions of the Labuan IBFC to be realised, is however, a shared responsibility.

Zeti Akhtar Aziz: The transformation of Labuan as an International Business and Financial Centre Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the launch of Labuan International Business and Financial Centre, Kuala Lumpur, 28 January 2008. *  *  *  Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the launch of Labuan International Business and Financial Centre. This decade has seen the Labuan Offshore Financial Centre demonstrate its ability to adjust and reinvent itself in a rapidly changing international and regional environment. This decade has also witnessed the robustness and resilience of the Labuan Offshore Financial Centre as evidenced by its ability to continue to expand and mature even during the most challenging of periods. The global and regional market place however, continues to transform, bringing with it new opportunities and challenges. To have the flexibility to benefit from the new opportunities and to have the capacity to rise to the new emerging demands and challenges, continued reassessments need to take place to rediscover new directions, build new strengths, new comparative advantages and to define our new role in this ever changing and more competitive market place. Today we are defining a new beginning for the Labuan Offshore Financial Centre as it positions itself for a much larger role. Your presence here today to share in this auspicious occasion is indeed appreciated.