samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
For instance, focusing solely on ‘bad’ loans may be misleading if it is not accompanied by the clarification that the assets in the banking system balance sheet are very little exposed to the risk of mark-to-market revaluations (and exactly the manifestation of that risk became the biggest problem in many of the “advanced” banking systems). Furthermore, it is very common in Bulgaria to comment on the gross non-performing (over 90 days past-due) loans ratio, whereas the economically more significant ratio is the “net non-performing (over 90 days past-due) loans/net loans” ratio – it correctly reflects the fact that the risk has already been taken into consideration in the income statement through the impairment costs that banks have actually made. Also, as a rule, net non-performing loans represent the part of the loan portfolio covered by highly liquid (and acceptable under the BNB‘s high standards) collateral. Net non-performing loans in Bulgaria hold a share of 10.71% at end-March 2012. What I mean to say is that the analyses and conclusions about non-performing loans across countries are useful only when they are based on comparable values. Despite the objective indicators, all the resilience and adaptability of the economy and banking system in Bulgaria remain unnoticed by many international observers and the leading world media. Even the analyses made by European and international organisations, known for their high expertise, still lack understanding of the economic specifics in the different countries.

This competition can be launched across national frontiers. In the meantime, existing players are faced with the problem of what they do with the branch networks they have so painstakingly built up over the years. Unless they can give the right incentives to existing customers to migrate to the new electronic delivery channels, and scale back their branch networks accordingly, the promised cost-savings from the internet may not be realised. Moreover, one of the key distinguishing characteristics of the internet is the ability which it gives customers to access and compare the offers of many different retailers, including banks. This greatly increases the power to “shop around”. This will increasingly be done with the help of automatic shopping agents that will travel the net looking for the best deal on behalf of customers or through the use of intermediaries who will offer consolidated product information and price quotes. This will drive down margins, particularly on commodity-type products, and erode customer loyalty. As has often been said, the Internet Age is all about customer empowerment. What in this situation is a traditional bank to do? Is it simply a matter of waiting to be overtaken by a trendy new virtual bank with a catchy name? Luckily, for the existing players it is not as simple as that. Banking is not simply about cheap delivery, although that will become more and more important.
For Swedish banks and financial institutions, the difference as regards participation in central bank monetary policy operations will probably not be all that great. The Riksbank will no doubt continue to be the financial sector’s counterparty. The main differences from today for Swedish banks are that the overnight market will be considerably larger and that minimum reserves are likely to be required. How monetary policy is to be constructed and implemented in detail has still to be decided. These matters will not be finalised until the ECB has been established next year. Thus it is the countries which participate from the start that will be in a position to influence the conduct of policy as well as the organisation of the work in the new European bank. There are already tendencies for countries belonging to the “presumed” core to exercise a greater influence over the process. 2. Payment system A single monetary policy calls in turn for a common payment system in order to handle the payments connected with the policy’s implementation. The arrangements whereby all the national systems are interlinked is called the Target system. In the new system, a cross-border payment will normally be made in a matter of seconds, whereas at present in the best case it takes a whole day. The main objective of Target is to enable the ECB to implement monetary policy but the new system will also provide a new “highway” for commercial transactions.

I see Islamic finance having a major role in plugging this gap. Most, if not all of the seventeen SDGs are aligned with the objectives of Shariah (M aqasid Shariah), making Islamic finance naturally advance and spearhead sustainability goals. This is the case in Malaysia, where sustainability objectives are materialised through the adoption of Value-based Intermediation or VBI practices. For a few years now, Islamic financial institutions have contributed significantly in pursuing sustainability efforts domestically. We also see many Islamic financial institutions helming sustainability efforts in their respective financial groups, both domestic and foreign. Collectively, the Islamic financial institutions in Malaysia have intermediated over RM155.6 billion2 in VBI-aligned initiatives over the past 3 years. Being a mature system today, Islamic finance is poised to scale up value-based finance solutions and continue to take the lead to create greater impact on the environment, economy and society. Allow me to share how we can make this a reality. First, is by harnessing the power of digitalisation. Technology may not be the silver bullet. But, it holds massive potential to revolutionise and transform the way value is delivered in finance. Studies show that an estimated 70% of new value to be created in the economy over the next decade will be based on digitally enabled platforms3, priming conditions for breakthrough innovation to perennial problems. I believe, with the right and responsible application, emerging technologies can amplify the impact of Islamic finance in meeting sustainability goals.
And any support we provide will be on terms that are as penal as we can make them, without precipitating the collapse we are trying to avoid ……… We look for a clean exit. The company may be required to run down or restructure its operations, under our surveillance, to the point where it can do without our support. We aim to protect the system, not to keep in being unviable banking capacity …...” And, paraphrasing Mervyn King in 2007: “if the [authorities] underwrite any [risk] that threatens to damage the economy as a whole, it encourages the view that as long as a bank takes the same sort of risks that other banks are taking then it is more likely that their problems will be insured ex post.” That provides a useful context for the debate about whether the cost of bailouts can somehow be recovered from the industry. Compared with a year ago, a number of ideas are now in circulation. One possibility is to establish a fund in advance. Another is to raise a levy on the surviving banks. An argument in favour of the former is that it would raise contributions from risky banks before they fail. And it would allow the levies to be related to the size of their uninsured creditors, as some in the US have suggested. 10 But I do just wonder whether it would be realistic to raise, and over the decades sustain, a sufficiently large fund.

Her articles and research cover topics such as mutual support of qualitative and quantitative methods in the field of intelligence or topics related to the debate in the intelligence community about intuition versus structured technique in prediction and decision making in conditions of risk and uncertainty. She is a supporter of structured methods and statistical, cybernetic and mathematical analysis in the development of prediction systems. One final thing about her background, which I am certain many of you will find interesting, is that she is a Marine Corps Black Belt Mixed Martial Arts Instructor. She has led the Marine Expeditionary Unit training in martial arts and trained over 200 Marines and certified 60 to the next higher belt. So all in all, a very impressive background and track record. Professor Sundri Khalsa is visiting the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest. Professor Marian Preda, the Rector of the University, wrote me about this visit. He pointed out that, in addition to being a specialist in the development of applications of quantitative and statistical methods for predictive information activity, Professor Khalsa has been working recently on matters of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, as they  1/2  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  influence strategic and national security issues. This is an area that has emerged at the overlap between (a) monetary and banking phenomena, (b) information technology advances, and increasingly salient (c) geopolitical and geo-economic developments.
•  The second focuses on the effects of climate risks on the economy and the financial system as a whole. This workstream aims to promote the modelling of and economic research into specific climate issues and to draw up global stress scenarios that can be used as a basis for monetary policy and macroprudential supervision. The SNB is a member of this workstream. It is particularly interested in contributing to this group’s activities as it wishes to explore ways to refine and augment its own analyses and tools. •  The third workstream, in which the SNB also participates, examines developments in sustainable finance and the role of central banks and supervisory authorities in promoting socially responsible investment within the scope of their mandates. The  Climate change could also impact productivity, potential growth and, ultimately, the long-term natural rate of interest. For more on this subject, cf. Brainard, L. (2019), ‘Why climate change matters for monetary policy and financial stability’, remarks at conference on ‘The economics of climate change’, San Francisco, 8 November, as well as Weidmann, J. (2019), ‘Climate change and central banks’, introductory remarks at the Deutsche Bundesbank’s second ‘Financial Markets Conference’, Frankfurt am Main, 29 October. Page 6/12  SNB is well placed to contribute here by sharing its experience as a global investor, a subject that we will investigate in more detail in a moment.

Indeed, employment held up well during the recession, declining by less than 2 percent over a brief period in early 2009, and has averaged a nearly 3 percent annualized growth rate since then. Job growth has been particularly strong at retailers, hotels and restaurants, and also service firms ranging from advertising to engineering. That said, the employment picture does have some difficulties. For example, there is concern over some well-paying health sector jobs given the financial strain at Long Island College Hospital and Interfaith Medical Center and the pressure to close those institutions. Brooklyn’s economic vitality is also reflected in the commercial real estate market, as both office and retail vacancy rates have fallen steadily over the past few years. In fact, office vacancy rates are now lower in Brooklyn than in Manhattan. The strength in the housing market is also evident, with the median home price up by roughly 10 percent in each of the past two years, and the rental market has shown similar strength. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  However, these increasing prices also raise two other issues that acutely afflict many in Brooklyn and New York City more broadly: housing affordability and poverty. Despite Brooklyn’s economic renaissance and growing affluence, a large swath of the Borough’s population – one in four residents – still lives in poverty, and many struggle to pay their rent or mortgage. Even with the strong pace of job creation, Brooklyn’s unemployment rate has remained high, averaging more than 9 percent in 2013.
The new rules will remove these incentives for short-term lending - a form of lending that can be especially destabilizing to emerging markets during financial stress. The adoption of Basel II internationally will have the benefit of spreading stronger risk management practices to all countries, including emerging market nations. This is not to say that Basel II is the right answer for all banks or all countries at this time, but rather that all countries should work to adopt various of its underlying principles in assessing banks’ risk management systems and in promoting transparency and disclosure. Investors and rating agencies would then have a better understanding of the risk profile of emerging market banks, which could result in a reduction of the risk premium currently applied to some emerging market lending. Conclusion In wrapping up, I would emphasize that implementation of Basel II should help supervisors and market participants better detect increases in risk in individual institutions and across the financial system through a more risk sensitive capital measure. Basel II also promises to reinforce and accelerate improvements in bank risk management globally, as well as promote future innovations through its reliance on banks’ internal methodologies. How well these improvements unfold will depend critically on the actions of supervisors in integrating the new regulatory capital requirements with their overall supervisory and regulatory approach. Thank you very much. BIS Review 35/2005  5

So how do our actions support economic activity? Buying assets and extending interest rate guidance puts downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, so they are lower than they would otherwise be for any given economic outlook. This supports the price of assets such as equities and homes. Buying mortgage-backed securities has the additional effect of  BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  narrowing the interest rate spread between these assets and Treasuries, which further reduces mortgage rates. Moreover, to the extent that our actions are seen as supporting the recovery and providing some insurance against adverse shocks, confidence in the mediumterm economic outlook should also increase, making businesses and households more willing to invest, hire and spend. If we are successful, long-term Treasury yields could actually rise as confidence in a sustainable recovery increases. At the same time, the expected returns on private assets should rise and risk premia decline. This matters because such shifts would provide support to the economic recovery. Now it is true that some of the channels through which monetary policy affects the economy may be partially impaired at the moment. For example, because of ongoing restrictions in the supply of mortgage credit to customers with less than perfect credit records, the impact of lower mortgage rates on housing is probably less powerful than normal. While this restraint should slowly ease as house prices stabilize, the difficulties of households with lower credit scores in obtaining mortgage credit warrants ongoing attention.
At the statistical close of this Report (28 August), the peso/dollar parity was somewhat above CLP660, 5.5% higher than at the close of the previous Report. In the days that followed the peso has depreciated further vis-à-vis the dollar. However, in multilateral terms the depreciation has been milder, even with an appreciation against other emerging and commodity exporters' currencies, reflecting the greater relative strength of the Chilean economy. The real depreciation of the peso has been lower (near 1% since the previous Report). As a working assumption, the baseline scenario of this Report continues to assume that, in the course of the policy horizon, the real exchange rate will go back to its averages of the last fifteen to twenty years (Figure 7). As for domestic credit, local financial conditions are still good, in line with the ongoing expansionary stance of monetary policy. Accordingly, the interest rates of many segments stayed low and credit growth remained limited. However, it is worth mentioning that commercial rates increased again, in a context where qualitative indicators report increased demand and more accommodating supply (Figure 8). For the moment, the higher risk perception has translated into a limited revision to global growth prospects, with decelerating growth rates in 2019 and 2020. By blocs, the outlook for developed countries does not differ from that in the June Monetary Policy Report. Instead, in the emerging countries the downward adjustment in Latin America stands out, especially Argentina and Brazil. Add the expected slowdown in China (Table 2).

Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Transforming the East Asian insurers – time for action now Keynote speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the 26th East Asian Insurance Congress “Transforming the East Asian insurers – time for action now”, Kuala Lumpur, 30 October 2012. *  *  *  It is my great pleasure to join you this morning at this 26th East Asian Insurance Congress. It was almost 24 years ago in 1988 that Malaysia hosted this event. Since that time, the global and regional financial and economic landscape has been dramatically transformed. During this period the world has also experienced more than a hundred financial crises, with the recent global financial crisis being the most severe. This has prompted wide ranging financial reforms by the international community to strengthen the resilience of the financial sector. The enhancements to the regulatory and supervisory frameworks have also had a far reaching and fundamental impact on how insurers manage risks in their businesses. In this highly dynamic and more challenging global environment, the insurance industry has continued to evolve and develop with the broadening of the product range and greater diversification of the distribution system. In Malaysia, the insurance industry, including the Takaful sector has also progressed significantly during this period, both in terms of growth and development. In this more recent decade, the penetration rate, as measured by the number of life policies to total population, increased significantly to 55 percent, from 31 percent in 2000.
The outlook suggests that it will soon be appropriate to raise the key policy rate – and this is a good sign. Thank you for your attention. 4/4  BIS central bankers' speeches

Those basing their arguments on past experiences in emerging economies fail to take into consideration the many differences in the case at hand: Greece is an advanced economy sharing a single currency with 16 other democracies which has signed up to a common set of rules, institutions and overriding objectives, notably macroeconomic and financial stability, together with the other countries of the European Union. Greece’s euro membership rules out debt-devaluation spirals and ensures price stability in the medium term. Its economy is highly integrated – via a number of channels, such as trade and financial flows – with other advanced economies both in Europe and around the world that can potentially act as contagion mechanisms. Greater economic integration has been accompanied by an increasing degree of institutional cooperation. At the same time, the country’s economy is affected by a number of structural weaknesses and rigidities that have resulted in the persistent accumulation of public and private sector imbalances. The thorough implementation of the comprehensive programme of structural reforms and fiscal consolidation negotiated with the international authorities is the only way forward which is fully consistent with the long-term interests of the people of Greece. To paraphrase the title of a study by IMF staff, 3 the debate on debt restructuring in a euro area country is unnecessary, undesirable and unhelpful.
It is our expectation that the board of directors and senior management of institutions to play their roles in ensuring that the compliance programme is fully implemented and that any money laundering and terrorism financing activities are promptly detected and reported. Hence, I urge all reporting institutions to improve both the quantity and quality of STR submitted. In the same vein, the FIU will continue to improve its feedback mechanism to reporting institutions. The fourth area is to give greater emphasis on compliance. This is important so as to improve the compliance level among the reporting institutions in order to preserve the integrity and stability of the financial system. More focus will be given to enhance and raise the compliance level among DNFBPs in view of the emerging risks. To this end, greater collaboration between the FIU and the various self-regulatory organisations would be pursued actively during the year. BIS Review 46/2009  3  The fifth and last area is to ensure that the enforcement of the AML/CFT regime should be achieved without undue increase in the regulatory cost. It is important that the controls in place are commensurate with the associated money laundering and terrorism financing risks and the risk mitigation measures are adequate. This underscores the progressive introduction of more risk-based approach in the national AML/CFT regime. I understand that this is among key topics to be discussed in this conference, and I am sure it will generate interesting discussions between the experts and the participants.

Global financial stability hinges on collective action at the international level, as well as the existence of effective national systems. Financial stability is also closely linked with financial integrity. The lack of anti-money laundering and the combating of the financing of terrorism, or AML/CFT regime, can contribute to undermine the soundness and stability of financial institutions and systems, discourage foreign investment, and distort international capital flows. The global financial crisis amplifies such risks. In fact, 2009 is anticipated to be another highly challenging year, in which the full impact of the economic slowdown will continue to be global in nature. In this more fragile environment, problems in one country can quickly spread to other countries in the region or in other parts of the world. This, therefore, brings us to the first theme of my speech that is for everyone to remain vigilant. In the financial sector in particular, financial system and institutions should continue to  BIS Review 46/2009  1  support the economy and protect it from abuses, including by money launderers and terrorist financiers. For Malaysia, the Government has recently announced a RM60billion stimulus package, i.e., the second stimulus package, and we expect to see its full impact during 2009 and 2010. We are quite fortunate that the banking system entered this difficult period from a position of strength. It is important to have a high level of vigilance to ensure that the banking and finance sector continues to support the economy.