samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
This year, we are going to make such a review as well. We have been targeting inflation for five years by now. Over this period, we were able to maintain inflation close to the target for quite a long time. By the moment, the financial sector and, largely, the society and businesses have a better understanding how this works. Professional market participants have their inflation expectations anchored at the long-term target, and, importantly, this influences long-term interest rates. Some parameters of our policy were associated with the fact that we were launching inflation targeting at the stage of disinflation when we were lowering inflation from high levels. For instance, we set our target as a point in order to anchor inflation expectations at it. We avoided setting a range fearing that inflation expectations might get stuck at the upper bound. In our opinion, the target rate conformed to the level of the market maturity. However, it has changed somewhat over this period. The operational procedure we selected was also in line with the market structure. Today, we need to find out whether this structure has changed so that we now need certain adjustments in our procedure. We are going to analyse the above issues and some other aspects within our review. We will carry out comprehensive work in this regard. At first, we will perform research and analysis engaging our research divisions who will test particular hypotheses.

End-to-end efficiency also means that innovation in payments origination and receipt integrates smoothly into demand account systems and traverses risk filters and the payments infrastructure with both speed and relatively low cost. We have ample room to increase efficiency. End-users are still writing paper checks by the billions across many different use cases. Some recent payment innovations are designed to address these opportunities. For example, in the P2P space there are PayPal, PopMoney and Dwolla; in B2B, Paymode X and PayNetExchange; for bill payment, FIS and Fiserv, and among the proliferating mobile options, Square Wallet and LevelUp. In many ways, however, checks continue to provide features that are not replicated by electronic alternatives and innovations. Checks offer a large measure of ubiquity. In other words, senders and receivers can reach nearly everyone without signing up for multiple services. They provide convenience because the payer doesn’t have to know the payee’s account information. Virtually all the innovative services I noted involve closed payment communities, which require both the sender and receiver to join. A more efficient mechanism would facilitate payments from any sender to any receiver. Achieved through directories, standards or some other solution, ubiquity will be key to achieving the efficiency of all-electronic payments in the end-to-end value chain. Let me touch on one more possible form of efficiency; in my personal view, an efficient, faster, secure and ubiquitous payments mechanism (especially if it’s mobile) could significantly change the risks in payments.
* **  Page 9 of 9 We have just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the ECB, and next year we will mark the 10th anniversary of the SSM within the ECB. This is certainly not a time for complacent celebrations; it remains a time for active vigilance. But these milestones are an opportunity to recognise that, throughout years of severe international crises, the European financial system, and particularly the French one, is increasingly resilient. The ACPR is committed to contributing further to this. I will now hand the floor to Jean-Paul Faugère, Vice-Chairman of the ACPR, to speak about the insurance sector. i  The slight decrease observed in 2022 results from lower Tier 1 capital, which was impacted among other things by the lower valuation of insurance subsidiaries due to the rise in interest rates, compounded with an increase in risk-weighted assets stemming from a dynamic trend in customer loans. ii Observatoire du financement des entreprises, Le financement des entreprises dans un contexte de crises, 30 May 2023

The task, for Hong Kong as for all jurisdictions, will be to translate high-level principles and universal standards into local practice, and to develop the skills to carry them out. This is an enormous challenge, but there are reasons for confidence in Hong Kong's case. We have had a largely positive experience in introducing Basel II into our supervisory system, thanks in no small part to the hard work of both HKAB and HKIB. Regulatory reform is driven not just by objective circumstances but also by changing public expectations. This brings me to my third observation: that banks and financial institutions (and, it might be added, regulators) are now operating in a more sceptical, more demanding, even hostile environment. We see this around the world, and, particularly in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse, we have seen it in Hong Kong. There is also discontent and anxiety locally that pre-dates the crisis – for example, about access to banking services, about the risks of new technology – that result partly from the changing business landscape and partly from changing expectations. We must expect this trend to continue, and it will be necessary for the banking industry and the regulator to take more and more account of wider public opinion, and to tackle areas of concern.
Those operations could be backed by either narrow or “wider” collateral, which comprises high quality, but less liquid collateral, including private sector securities.10 The LTRs effectively reduced the quantity of lending needed via the routine weekly OMOs. But during the crisis, the demand for liquidity rose significantly, owing to the combination of a reduction in the supply of longer-term interbank finance, and a reduction in the liquidity of various asset-backed securities. The Bank responded by expanding the range of collateral it would accept in its operations in order to provide sufficient sterling liquidity to the UK banking system. As a result, the stock of LTRs rose from £ to £ by early 2009 (the blue area in Chart 2).11 The Bank also widened the ranges around the commercial banks’ targets, so that they could hold additional reserves (within the maintenance period) without penalty. The Bank was concerned that the banks would collectively not increase their targets enough from one maintenance period to the next. Widening the ranges around these targets, permitting a larger liquidity injection at the Bank’s discretion, also addressed that problem. The temporary expansion of LTR lending during the crisis was very successful in its main objective of providing liquidity to the banking system. But it also raised a number of important operational policy questions for the Bank: (i)  It was very difficult to decide exactly how large these lending operations should be.

William C Dudley: Comments on "A Skeptical View of the Impact of the Fed's Balance Sheet" Remarks by Mr William C Dudley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the 2018 US Monetary Policy Forum, New York City, 23 February 2018. * * * It is a pleasure to be able to comment on this year’s U.S. Monetary Policy Forum paper. As always, what I have to say here today reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) or the Federal Reserve System.1 To say that I was interested in this year’s topic is an understatement. The use of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has been an important element of U.S. monetary policy over the past decade. The start of the reversal of that expansion—the so-called process of balance sheet normalization—has been a key focus of the FOMC’s monetary policy deliberations over the past year. I am pleased that the start of this process—in contrast to the bond market taper tantrum of 2013—has been non-disruptive. The normalization process is now running in the background, essentially on autopilot, with short-term interest rates serving as the primary tool for adjusting the stance of monetary policy. Let me start with my main point: Although I agree with many of the authors’ findings in this year’s paper, I would take a much less skeptical view of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet as a tool of monetary policy.
6  BIS Review 59/2006

This working partnership paves the way for the financial services industry and the academia in Malaysia to work with the University of Nottingham, one of the top ten universities in the United Kingdom. The combination of academic excellence from the University of Nottingham and in-depth market knowledge of the financial services industry will spur greater innovation in financial services, leading to higher value added products and services. All of us can agree that the University of Nottingham is not new to us, as it is among the first foreign universities to establish a campus in Malaysia. It is also known as the university of choice by many Malaysians for its academic excellence and its forte in research. The University has also produced many prominent Malaysian leaders including the Deputy Prime Minister, YAB Dato' Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak. Ladies and Gentlemen, Top-tier financial institutions are known for their commitment in research and development to enhance innovation, especially in process and product innovation to drive competition. In the process, such financial players will be able to better position themselves to be part of the global financial community. Bank Negara Malaysia encourages and supports a strong culture of research and development in the financial services industry in Malaysia in both the conventional and Islamic finance. We believe that the encouragement and support is important to ensure a wider range of high quality financial products and services to meet the changing demands of a progressive and dynamic Malaysian economy.
At the Bank of England we do still consider that the stability of the financial system depends crucially on the stability of the banking system. Banks are at the heart of the payments system, they are the principal source of funds for many businesses, and they are an important savings medium for a large part of the population. The regulatory framework in turn affects the behaviour of banks, making it essential to get it right. It needs to create both the right incentives, and establish the right level of buffer - in the form of capital - to protect the system. We fully support the Basel Committee’s objective of updating the 1988 Accord to make it more comprehensive and risk sensitive. And as a member of the Basel Committee, the Bank is working alongside the FSA to ensure that these objectives are delivered. Importance of risk sensitive capital charges I am aware that some commentators have questioned the aim of making the system reflect risk in a more differentiated way. One argument is that this will make capital charges procyclical, so that economic downturns or external shocks are amplified by the regulatory demand for higher capital. There is a concern that the consequences could be particularly severe in the case of lending to emerging markets, where rating changes have sometimes lagged the onset of crises. This is certainly a risk, and one which we have to take seriously. Clearly there could be macroeconomic implications, both domestically and internationally, possibly on a systemic scale.

The transition from Libor to SARON  Let me now turn to the SNB policy rate and the transition away from Libor. As Thomas Jordan has explained in his remarks, we are introducing the SNB policy rate as the future of Libor is uncertain. This adjustment does not entail any change in the SNB’s current monetary policy stance. However, the move away from Libor presents the financial markets, and those operating in them, with a very challenging task. I would like to discuss three aspects of this transition in greater detail: first, the choice of the Swiss Average Rate Overnight (SARON) as the alternative reference rate; second, the importance of using SARON in financial products and developing a liquid, SARON-based yield curve; and third, the issue of how interest payments should be calculated over longer periods. As regards the first aspect – the choice of a new reference rate: In Switzerland, the National Working Group on Swiss Franc Reference Rates (NWG) recommended SARON as the alternative as early as 2017. Switzerland, like other currency areas, has thus chosen an overnight rate as its preferred alternative to Libor. SARON has been in existence for ten years and, unlike Libor, is based on trades and binding quotes for overnight transactions on the secured Swiss franc money market. This market segment is broader and more liquid than the unsecured money market on which Libor is based.
As a central banker I feel some empathy with those who find themselves sandwiched between pressure on one side from their masters to achieve ever lower funding costs or ever better returns from financial investments, and persistent enticements on the other side from bankers claiming that you could be freed of all that pressure if you simply subcontracted everything into their capable hands. Treasury has come to be regarded in many instances as a separate profit centre. The treasurers of some major corporates are nowadays acknowledged as being at least as significant players in the financial markets as are the banks themselves. There are some well-known examples where the profitability of an enterprise in the manufacturing or services sector has been sustained by deft treasury and financial management for considerable periods when the mainstream business has itself been floundering. And there are also examples, alas, where reputable companies have been brought to their knees by flawed financial management. You probably don’t have an easy life, but you won’t need me to tell you that. I find myself wondering whether or for how long the financial scene will continue to be one of such rapid change as we have been witnessing in recent years; and what the implications are, for any or all of us here, of recent and prospective developments in financial products and infrastructure.

As history bears witness, such strategies are as good, but only as good, as the assumptions that are programmed in, be they about economic forecasts, covariances between various events, or whatever. But even if we felt that these particular strategies were foolproof, there are a myriad of other financial transactions which can only really be consummated by a conscious human decision. The home buyer faced with a choice between taking a mortgage from bank A or bank B is unlikely to have a sophisticated and reliable mathematical model with which to compare the offers and determine conclusively his choice. But the culture nowadays, bred at least in part by the technological feasibilities of the IT era, is one which is likely to place the home buyer under much greater pressure to reach a quick decision than his parents would have been a generation ago, or even his brother five years ago, for fear of losing the best offer - if only he could assess which was the best. There is less time to reflect; less time to seek out disinterested advice. There are of course some areas of finance which appear relatively untouched as yet by this revolution. In the realm of corporate finance, in every jurisdiction so far as I am aware, the documents seeking shareholder support for a merger, for example, are still required to be sent by post, and with a reasonable minimum notice period for response.
The proper implementation of these programmes, which have been favourably assessed in the European Commission's follow-up of the Lisbon agenda, is vital if the Spanish economy is to leave behind the path of low productivity growth on which it has been moving. Undoubtedly, the high availability of labour is a factor that partly explains the low increases in productivity. But this should not mask the difficulties faced in increasing and modernising productive capital, in properly training labour and in incorporating technological advances, difficulties that must be overcome to improve the competitiveness of the productive system. Market flexibility and efficiency is a vital requirement for sustaining long-term growth in an area of monetary stability. And it is all the more vital if, as in the case of the Spanish economy, the starting point involves a lag in technology and a relatively low level of productivity. This is why it is so important to move forward the Lisbon strategy in our country. The challenge lies, therefore, in translating the programmes designed into effective government action that is capable of mobilising the innovative energy of the private sector and of extending action to other key areas still requiring a liberalising boost, such as the retail trade sector and the land, housing and rentals markets. The financial system During 2005 Spanish deposit institutions operated in a benign domestic and international environment, both from the macroeconomic and financial-market perspective.

In this case, and from the perspective of the macroeconomic scenario of sustained growth projected for 2006, the general government surplus should feasibly and desirably stand a few tenths of a point above the 2005 figure, improving on the target of 0.9% set in the last Stability Programme update. Such a result would further the strategy pursued in recent years aimed at strengthening the stabilising nature of fiscal policy, which will be bolstered by the entry into force next year of the new budgetary stability legislation. The healthy position of Spanish public finances is evident from comparison with those of the other European countries, subject to the common fiscal discipline rules established by the Stability and Growth Pact. But this situation should not sideline significant challenges ahead. Most immediately, public-sector participation in various structural reform programmes, such as the National Reforms Plan, and compliance with the commitments made to improve the quality of certain services, such as healthcare, and the provision of new welfare benefits (some far-reaching, such as the coverage of situations of dependency) will require further efforts to achieve more efficient management of spending and of public revenue. From the standpoint of public revenue, the direct tax reform due to be enacted in 2007 contains features conducive to greater efficiency in the allocation of resources. As regards income tax, the reform is a significant step towards tax neutrality for saving.
Indeed, an inflation-targeting central bank ought to be willing to undershoot its target in the medium term, if it could thereby sufficiently improve the chances of meeting its target further out through the avoidance of a disruptive bust (Bean, 2003). Essentially, this involves the policymaker adopting a somewhat longer perspective than is sometimes the case in inflation-targeting regimes. On the other hand, other policymakers – most notably at the Federal Reserve – advocated a policy of benign neglect during the boom phase, coupled with aggressive relaxation (“cleaning”) should asset prices go into reverse (see e.g. Greenspan, 2002). Some analytical support for this approach was provided by Bernanke and Gertler (1999). The justification for this strategy rested on the following arguments. First, the policymaker needs to judge whether the credit/asset-price boom is warranted by fundamentals or whether it is instead based on misplaced expectations and furthermore poses a threat to future financial and macroeconomic stability; a mechanical response that 16  BIS Review 111/2010  treats all asset-price movements alike, whatever their cause, will be inappropriate. That is rarely straightforward given that credit/asset-price booms are apt to occur in the wake of genuine improvements in fundamentals – though central bankers are, of course, called upon to make difficult judgments all the time, for instance over the margin of spare capacity. Second, once a bubble is large enough to be identified, the presence of lags in the monetary transmission mechanism complicate the calibration of an appropriate policy.

37 The Act was drafted in the light of Norges Bank’s role in the postwar government administration. Therefore, the new Executive Board, which replaced the board of directors under the 1892 Act, is now appointed by the Council of State. 35  Elster, Jon (1979): Ulysses and the Sirens. Studies in Rationality and Irrationality, University Press, Cambridge. 36  Stanley Fischer introduced the difference between goal and instrument independence. See Fischer (1995): “Modern approaches to central banking”, NBER Working Paper No. 5064. 37  The Norges Bank Act is discussed in Helge Syrstad (2003):” Sentralbankens uavhengighet” [Central bank independence], Fagbokforlaget. 10  BIS Review 154/2010  Under the Act, Norges Bank is an executive and advisory body for monetary, credit and foreign exchange policy and shall monitor developments in the money, credit and foreign exchange markets. The Act makes no reference to the objective of monetary policy. On the contrary, its formulations are completely open-ended. 38 The Bank shall conduct its operations in accordance with the economic policy guidelines drawn up by the government authorities. How this was to be interpreted was the subject of controversy in the first years. Today, in the light of both the text of the Act and of the preparatory works, the implications of this may also be unclear. This provision has not gained any further practical significance. Today, Norges Bank no longer looks for guidelines in public documents.