samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The institution that is responsible for the settlement of payments between financial institutions gains a considerable influence over the payment system as a whole. If 4 [8]  the settlement of payments had been a branch characterised by substantial competition and low entry barriers, it would not have been problem. But as payment settlement is instead characterised by economies of scale and network effects, Sweden actually has to choose between a public monopoly and some form of private monopoly. Even a privately-owned infrastructure can be supplied in a competitively neutral way without creating monopoly profits, but it must in that case be accompanied by regulations, supervision and oversight which is once again an unnecessary detour if the infrastructure could just as easily be directly supplied by a central bank. I therefore believe that both financial stability and competition on the payment market would benefit from the Riksbank supplying a payment system that is available whenever the participants wish to use it. Platform sharing with other central banks is cost-effective Platforms for settling instant payments must be able to process a large number of payments, be accessible 24/365 and offer first-class continuity solutions. The systems are therefore expensive and complex to develop. We have not calculated in detail how much it would cost for the Riksbank to develop or procure a system for the settlement of instant payments, but simple business economics speak against this type of project. Payment infrastructures entail substantial fixed costs.

A key challenge confronting macroeconomic policy in Thailand is to safeguard the pace of recovery while maintaining macroeconomic stability and financial discipline, and at the same time continuing with the essential reforms. Past records Before moving on to discuss the challenges facing Thai monetary policy, I would like to review some of the notable progress of the last few years. There have been gains that should further be expanded. Macroeconomic and financial stability has been restored. Inflation remains low and stable. Thailand’s international reserve position is healthy. Surpluses in the external current account of these few years have been matched almost entirely by falls in external debt, especially short-term debt. Such reversed flows have been instrumental in avoiding a real currency appreciation and loss of competitiveness. BIS Review 70/2001  1  The surplus on the external current account is expected to continue this year, although at a somewhat lower level. This would allow the debt stock to fall further as scheduled repayments are made. About 50 percent of the existing non-bank private debt stock represents debt contracted after the crisis, including some rollovers which were done under new contract. This means that private sector in Thailand currently has no difficulties in gaining access to the international financial markets. Reflecting this, the spreads of Thai Government bond yields over US Treasuries have narrowed while Thailand’s sovereignty credit ratings remain stable. The financial system has now stabilized, but much work still lies ahead.
6 I would also like to mention that the deposit guarantee, which is managed by the Swedish National Debt Office,  is also important in avoiding bank runs. 7 See, for instance, Söderberg (2018). 4 [35]  One can say that the Riksbank functions as the hub of the Swedish financial system. We can also note that the financial system that has grown up around the world is based on countries or currency areas having state money and state control over the payment system. Quite simply, state institutions are needed to guarantee that the requirements in these points are met. 8  Payment markets are changing – motives for an e-krona Almost all economic activity is linked to some form of payment, so without functioning payment systems the economy would grind to a halt. It is therefore important that the central banks adapt to the technical innovations that are now rapidly changing the payment market. There must be transactional efficiency in Swedish and by that I mean that they should be cheap and easy to use for both domestic and international payments. This is also what households, quite rightly, expect in today’s digital society. By keeping apace with technological developments, we ensure that the safety net I mentioned earlier, which preserves the value of money and ensures it is easy and cheap to use, remains in place.

I therefore think that Sweden, with its large cross-border banks, should consider membership of the Banking Union. To enable the Riksbank to carry out its tasks and deal with the challenges offered by the changes in the financial system, the monetary policy instruments need to be fit-for-purpose and flexible. The coronavirus pandemic has shown that a combination of several instruments – not just the policy rate – may be needed to stabilise the economy in a crisis situation. The Government has in its proposal for a new Sveriges Riksbank Act suggested several restrictions to practical monetary policy. I think this is unfortunate, as it makes it more difficult for the Riksbank to safeguard an efficient and stable financial system, if the proposals are put into practice. 2 [35]  The Riksbank’s balance sheet is currently very large, and this is mainly due to the extensive purchases of government bonds we began making at the beginning of 2015, and to the measures taken during the pandemic. I believe that our balance sheet will remain large for some time to come. There are several reasons for this. In particular, the generally low interest rates mean that it will become more difficult to use the policy rate in monetary policy, but many of the changes in the financial environment are also important reasons. My assessment is therefore that the bond purchases and holdings of bonds will play a larger role than before.
Thus, in an OECD comparison, Chile is in the lower part of this ratio’s distribution (figure 16). Although the current capital levels are sufficient to absorb a possible severe stress scenario, gaps have narrowed. While every bank’s CAR exceeds the 8-percent regulatory minimum in the stress scenario, the share of banks having a CAR above 10 percent in such a scenario has dropped in recent years, to less than half the system’s assets in the latest test (figure 17). Let me conclude with some final thoughts. Concluding thoughts In the past several months the macroeconomic scenario has brought no big surprises, but that does not mean that challenges have been absent. Inflation has dropped in line with expectations, but remains above the tolerance range. Our projections indicate that in a few more months it will return to that range to then decline towards the 3-percent target. If this is so, we will have ended quite a long period during which inflation was at or above 4 percent and monetary policy-making has been particularly complex, as we have had to deal with a significant depreciation of our currency and the ensuing rise in prices, aside from the economic slowdown. Still we have been able to keep inflation expectations over the projection horizon well anchored to the 3-percent target. In the short term, there are obvious inflationary risks, which could again push back this convergence.

Ida Wolden Bache: Norges Bank's management of the Government Pension Fund Global Introductory statement by Ms Ida Wolden Bache, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at the hearing of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs of the Storting (Norwegian parliament), Oslo, 18 April 2023. *** Thank you for the invitation and for the opportunity to talk about Norges Bank's management of the Government Pension Fund Global. 2022 saw substantial movements in global financial markets. Interest rates rose, and both equity and bond markets gave negative returns. The fund's return last year was equivalent to a drop in value of NOK 1 637 billion. In absolute terms, this is the weakest return in the fund's history. With such a large fund and an equity allocation of 70 percent, we need to be prepared for substantial fluctuations in returns The objective for Norges Bank's management of the fund is the highest possible longterm return within the constraints set by the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry has defined a benchmark index for the fund, and we manage the fund close to this index. Over time, the return on the fund has been higher than the return on the benchmark index. The Executive Board is satisfied with this. The excess return in 2022 was equivalent to NOK 117 billion. The Executive Board has overriding responsibility for Norges Bank's management of the fund. We adopted a new strategy for the management of the fund towards the end of 2022.
The central bank does not manage real wages, the labour supply, employment or the level of unemployment in the long run. But, if price-stability is firmly anchored, the central bank can help to reduce short-term economic fluctuations. While central bank independence promotes price stability, researchers do not find a discernible connection between central bank independence and real economic variables such as GDP growth or unemployment (see Alesina, A. and L.H. Summers (1993), “Central Bank Independence and Macroeconomic Performance: Some Comparative Evidence”, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 25, No. 2., pp. 151–162). 27  The principle whereby the new state would have its own monetary system, separate from Sweden, was written into the November Constitution in the same year. Here the word “bank” is also used for the first time. In keeping with the emerging liberal thinking of the time, keeping the value of money secure was considered essential, a prerequisite for the liberty of the citizenry. 28  This journey time is for transport with a military escort. A post rider was able to make the journey considerably faster. Only after confidence in the new institution had been established – several generations later – was the Bank moved to Kristiania. Incidentally, the desire to compensate for the loss of the Bank was one of the reasons that Trondhjem was chosen as the location for another institution, the Norwegian Institute of Technology.

Confidence indices and leading indicators were all pointing up, reinforcing the view that the economy was on track. As is the case abroad, the most recent economic figures question whether the recovery scenario for 2002 remains valid. Information from various economic indicators is painting a consensus picture of weak growth. The negative numbers cover the broad contours of the Swiss economy. These sectors include construction, investment, tourism, financial services, and export-oriented industries. None of this means that the Swiss economy is not able to stay afloat. But those that have steered a ship know: it is not enough to have water under the rudder, one needs to plot continuously a course that will safeguard the vessel. The first rule of caution in seamanship and in monetary policy - is to keep away from situations in which adverse shocks will lead to trouble. With the recent interest rate reductions in the target range, we have tried to steer a prudent course that seeks to offset potential adverse shocks that would jeopardize economic recovery in Switzerland. nd  On May the 2 , we lowered the target range for the three-month Libor by 0.5 percentage points to 0.75% to 1.75%. With this step, we reacted to the rapid appreciation of the Swiss franc against the major currencies, which led to an undesirable tightening of monetary conditions in Switzerland, thereby threatening the economic recovery. th  We reduced the interest rate range by a further 50 basis points on July 26 .
This is the case even if the provider of funds believes that the borrower would remain solvent as long as it retained access to funding on normal terms. The cost of running when it turns out to be unnecessary is small relative to the cost of not running when it turns out to be prudent. Of course, this insight is not a new one. Prior to the establishment of a lender of last resort and retail deposit insurance for banks – which came with the quid pro quo of prudential regulation – bank runs were a regular and disruptive feature of our financial system. These innovations solved the coordination problem and stabilized this source of funding. What was new prior to the crisis was the extent to which maturity transformation and financial intermediation had migrated outside of commercial banks. The growth of what we call the shadow banking system occurred largely without the types of safeguards – robust prudential regulation, deposit insurance, lender of last resort – that have safeguarded the commercial banking system from the types of widespread panics and runs that are capable of destabilizing the financial system. The systemic risk created by this gap in coverage was not well recognized by regulators or the private sector prior to the global financial crisis.

Unlike organised exchanges, OTC markets are subject to little, if any, transparency or regulatory requirements, raising the risk of price ramping, collusion and other misconduct. International Financial Architecture: International Co-operation for Reform So what can be done about all this? Following the outbreak of the financial crisis, various international forums and multilateral financial institutions have devoted a great deal of effort to improving the stability and functioning of financial markets. Working group after working group has been formed to look into specific issues. There were the three G-22 working groups, the working BIS Review 47/1999  4  group under the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision, the two transparency and disclosure working groups under the Committee on Global Financial Systems, and now the three working groups of the G-7 Financial Stability Forum to be formed. And I should not forget the very useful work done by the IIF, and by other forums in this region. Many helpful reports have been prepared, including the two reports by the IIF released in March this year on risk management and on transparency in emerging markets finance, all of them produced in a highly co-operative atmosphere. I welcome in particular the Institute’s readiness to work with relevant public sector bodies on appropriate disclosure for private financial institutions active in the international capital markets. I am sure this international co-operative spirit, not only among international financial institutions, national finance ministries and central banks, but also with the private sector, will in the end produce helpful blueprints for action.
Here, too, Nicholas Bloom, together with Scott Baker of Stanford University and Steven Davis of the University of Chicago, made an important contribution in developing an economic policy uncertainty index for the US, Europe and other major economies. The measure has been used not only in academic papers but also by investors and financial professionals.5 It has also been subject to intense discussions in the blogosphere in view of some of its political uses. The difficulties in finding good indicators controlled to avoid reverse causation and the use of political events provided fodder for the debates. Professor Bloom’s work on measuring uncertainty stimulated more systematic analysis of uncertainty indices also at the ECB. We developed our own composite uncertainty indicator which combines four components: systemic stress, uncertainty of private households and firms, political uncertainty and financial risk aversion. Measurement difficulties were also an issue Professor Bloom had to tackle in the second strand of his research, namely in his research on the role of management practices in driving productivity and growth differentials across companies and across countries. Due to an absence of good quality data on management practices, little prior research was conducted on this important topic. To address this gap in the literature, Nicholas Bloom, together with John Van Reenen of the London School of Economics, developed a methodology for quantifying management practices.

Vítor Constâncio: 2012 Bernácer prize award ceremony in honour of Nicholas Bloom Speech by Mr Vítor Constâncio, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, on the occasion of the Awarding Ceremony of the Germán Bernácer Prize for Promoting Economic Research in Europe to Nicholas Bloom, Madrid, 24 September 2013. *  *  *  I wish to thank Marie Hoerova for the help in preparing this text. Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a pleasure for me to be part of this session to award the 2012 Germán Bernácer Prize to Nicholas Bloom, Professor of Economics at Stanford University. Nicholas Bloom has made influential contributions to the academic debate in two broad areas, both of which are of great relevance for central bank policy-makers. First, his research on the effects of policy and economic uncertainty on business cycles helped us understand better some of the key contributing factors to the protracted slump in output during what has become known as the Great Recession. Second, his research on the determinants of good management practices at the firm level provided important insights on how to support long-term economic growth and competitiveness, including in the European context. The financial and economic crisis that started in the summer of 2007 brought about unprecedented challenges for central bank policy-makers. Some well-accepted paradigms and widely used models have come to be questioned. It is of course the fact of life that central bankers operate in an ever-changing and, to use one of the keywords from Professor Bloom’s research, uncertain world.
Thank you. 6  BIS Review 130/2007

A banking union is necessary for the smooth functioning of a monetary union for the following three reasons: •  It breaks the link between banks and sovereigns by bringing banking supervision and crisis management to the federal level. With the banking union, banks will be considered as euro area institutions over and above their nationality; it will ensure that credit conditions in the euro area will not depend on where you are but on who you are, which is what should be expected of an efficient financial market. •  It allows re-integration of the European banking system. A supra-national supervisor is in fact better placed to assess the risks of cross-border activities and therefore to protect and encourage such activities; it is not subject to national biases that can lead to the temptation of economic introversion. It is therefore more credible and strengthens stability and confidence in the area;  •  Moreover, it restores the full efficacy of monetary policy. If our monetary policy impulses are not transmitted uniformly to all of the area’s countries because of the bank-sovereign link, it undermines the very foundation of Europe’s monetary union; remember that three quarters of the financing of the euro area’s economy consists of bank loans. By breaking this link, a banking union would restore the federal dimension of monetary policy. Today the first pillar of the banking union is being constructed: the Single Supervisory Mechanism.
This includes adequate powers and instruments to mitigate losses to the system in the event of a crisis, restore stability and ensure the continuity of the financial intermediation process. The second is the lender of last resort facility that is provided by central banks to address liquidity stresses faced by financial institutions. Thirdly, is the deposit insurance scheme that provides a guarantee on deposits to protect the savings of small depositors and reduce the prospects for disruptions that could threaten the stability of the financial system. The effectiveness of the financial safety net depends on several factors. They include the capacity of central banks and supervisory authorities to assess risks, the effective coordination between the different components of the safety net, clear communication strategies and a strong and comprehensive legal framework that supports the operation of the safety net. In Malaysia, the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation Act (MDIC Act) which establishes the Malaysian Deposit Insurance Corporation (MDIC) provides comprehensive intervention powers for the protection of depositors. This is complemented by an extensive operating framework developed between the Central Bank and the MDIC which clearly sets out the responsibilities and obligations of both agencies in promoting financial stability and in financial resolution. In the area of consumer protection, amendments to Malaysia's financial services legislation are also being put in place to provide for the establishment, roles and functions of a financial ombudsman to deal expediently and efficiently with disputes concerning financial services between consumers and the financial institutions.

Only in this manner electronic payment advantages and all other facilities will be equal to you and to all the public in general throughout the territory of the Republic of Albania. I believe, in the spirit of this reasoning, we shall establish real opportunities for a harmonised geographical progress, providing a concrete contribution to the growth of country’s welfare. 2  BIS Review 6/2005
Rather, it is to enable the entry of high-quality global talent in a more transparent and flexible way to complement the local workforce in Singapore. The enhanced framework has three key features that facilitate bringing in of talent that businesses need. First, the framework is based on a transparent points-based system. It clearly lists out the criteria that will be assessed for each application. Second, the system is more flexible. If an application for an employment pass falls short in certain criteria, the shortfall can be offset by scoring well in other criteria. Third, the framework facilitates applications where there is a skills shortage locally for specific job roles. A list of job roles where there is local shortage, will be developed for each sector. We want this list to reflect the needs of our financial institutions. MAS will be seeking the industry’s inputs in the next 1 to 2 months, to identify job roles where there is a shortage. The framework has been designed such that most existing employment pass holders will have no problem meeting its requirements. Of course, some financial institutions may need to adjust their workforce profiles, as they transition to the new framework. But they will have ample time to make these adjustments – at least 15 months for new employment pass applications and 27 months for renewals. MAS will work closely with financial firms to ensure they have access to the talent they need to grow and that is in short supply locally.

Mervyn King: A Governor looks back – and forward Speech by Mr Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet for Bankers and Merchants of the City of London, London, 19 June 2013. *  *  *  My Lord Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen: Chancellor: thank you for those generous words. It has been a privilege to work with you over the past three years, a period of great change both at home and abroad. Your support for the Bank has been much appreciated at this end of town, and you have changed for the better the regulatory framework that oversees the City. But we both know that the past few years would have been much more difficult without the continual support of two people. And I am so pleased that both Frances and Barbara are with us tonight. And I’m particularly happy, George, that neither you nor I have to speak after either of them because experience suggests that we would suffer from the comparison. Lord Mayor: let me thank you too for presiding over my final Mansion House Dinner. We have enjoyed many musical evenings together, and Barbara and I look forward to sharing many more with you and Clare after you shed the chains of office later this year. The City has been extremely fortunate to benefit from your energy, drive and can-do attitude as Lord Mayor. I shall not detain you this evening with a retrospective examination of my time as Governor.