samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The Swedish banking sector is large by international standards and strongly concentrated on a small number of major banks that are dependent on foreign funding – about half of their funding is in foreign currency. This poses a further risk to financial stability. The Riksbank therefore needs to hold a foreign currency reserve that is large enough to satisfy the needs that arise in a financial crisis, in other words the currency reserve needs to be at least as large as it is today. Another challenge that monetary policy needs to relate to is the free movement of capital. In combination with a rapid financial development, this has led to asset prices, indebtedness and exchange rates being increasingly affected by monetary policy in the major currency areas. This has progressively limited the degree of freedom for monetary policy in smaller economies. How to increase the degree of freedom for monetary policy, by, for example, implementing macroprudential policy measures that could put a dampener on indebtedness, is being discussed internationally. This is highly relevant for Sweden and I have brought this matter up in several of my previous speeches to the Swedish Economics Association. I will also return to this problem today. Conducting monetary policy is about being constantly prepared to meet new types of challenges and economic problems. Low interest rates are needed today in order to stabilise inflation at around 2 per cent, but they must be weighed against the risks of low rates over a longer period.

If one wishes to detect problems in good time, before they develop into a crisis, it is important that the public authorities within a country and those in different countries can coordinate and exchange information. There have been large inadequacies in this field in previous crises. This can to some extent be blamed on confidentiality regulations, and the relevance of these may be questioned during a crisis, but in all honesty it can also be blamed in many cases on the authorities having insufficient interest in collaborating. Tendencies in the financial sector The financial sector is subject to rapid development. The borders between different financial activities are being eroded. Banks are selling insurance-like products and insurance companies are selling banking products. In some cases financial conglomerations are being established. Moreover, the trade in financial instruments has developed to such an extent that the risks are spread to a greater number of agents than before and also spread outside of the banks and insurance companies. Another development is the cross-border integration, particularly in the Nordic countries. Danish banks have established themselves in Sweden and Swedish banks in Denmark. Integration as such is a positive development, for several reasons and not least to increase economic growth. The Riksbank therefore supports measures, for instance within the EU, that lead to greater integration. It is therefore important that the authorities manage the risks that integration might entail to avoid setbacks.
Let me first touch upon some of the ongoing reforms and give you a better picture of what we could expect to benefit from them. Among various initiatives to upgrade legal infrastructure in Thailand, steps have been taken to put in place more efficient and more business-friendly laws and regulations. The new Licensing Facilitation Act will help streamline bureaucratic processes in obtaining a business license, registration and approval. The Business Security Act will help improve SMEs’ access to bank loans by allowing more  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  types of assets to be used as collaterals. The new Payment System Act will unify all related laws governing the payment system and lift its standards to international best practices. In addition, the law to reform the governance structure of state-owned enterprises is underway. The success of this reform will not only improve the performance and transparency of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), but also unlock the potential of our country’s strategic assets, create a more level playing field between SOEs and private businesses, and strengthen the country’s overall competitiveness. I believe that these developments have a great potential to improve administrative efficiency and make doing business in Thailand easier. The legal reform will be here to stay regardless of which political party comes into power after the next election. Moreover, with the introduction of changes in the Board of Investment’s criteria for investment privileges, the government has geared up its effort in promoting high value added industries.

The second factor driving market volatility stems from the plunge in prices of oil and commodities. Depressed prices put pressures on commodity-exporting countries and related industries. For oil producers, the prolonged low prices would also result in losses in  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  revenue and profitability, and increase risks of default on their debt payments. These could trigger another rout of credit events and liquidity tightening in financial markets. The third factor is the monetary policy divergence between the US and other major advanced economies. While the US Federal Reserve is poised to gradually tighten its policy stance, the Bank of Japan recently joined the club of many European central banks to adopt a negative interest rate policy, and is likely to ease the policy even further. Amid the fragile global recovery, the divergence in the monetary policy stance as well as in the recovery paths among the major economies cause a great deal of global uncertainty, and prompt capital flows to be overly sensitive to news and even slight changes in market expectations. In this highly interconnected world, these global risks surely have widespread spillovers to all countries not least emerging markets, Thailand included. But, the impact on the Thai financial markets, as you might have seen, has so far been relatively limited, compared to other emerging markets, thanks to Thailand’s strong external position which serves as a great buffer against global volatility.
If a crypto-asset service provider needs the execution of payment transactions, that crypto-asset service provider itself must have authorisation to provide payment services or it must use a third party authorised to provide payment services. The Regulation introduces stricter supervisory requirements, including direct supervision by the European Banking Authority, for the issuers of so-called ‘significant tokens’ – tokens the total value of which exceeds a certain threshold. The Regulation puts in place rules and requirements to prevent market abuse involving crypto-assets, such as the obligation for disclosing inside information and conditions for delaying disclosure of inside information; prohibitions on insider dealing, on unlawful disclosure of inside information and on market manipulation. 5.3. Proposal for a Regulation on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (DLT)11. This Regulation puts in place requirements for multilateral trading facilities and securities settlement systems which use the distributed ledger technology (DLT) (‘market infrastructures based on DLT’) and have received specific permissions granting one or several exemptions from certain provisions of Directive 2014/65/EU12 and Regulation (EU) No  ‘Asset-referenced token’ means a type of crypto-asset that purports to maintain a stable value by referring to the value of several fiat currencies that are legal tender, one or several commodities or one or several cryptoassets, or a combination of such assets.

Some analysts have attributed this lack of  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  trade in service and manufacturing sectors to lack of competitiveness and products that insurer the exporter against any unforeseen losses. The demonstration by ATI of their credit risk insurance products in this workshop will therefore, play a very important role in promoting trade and exports of Non-Traditional Exports which lead to a diversified economy, job creation and sustainable economic growth. The credit risk insurance products also spur trade within Africa by helping our local companies to become more competitive through increased access to credit facilities. ATI has therefore, truly had a significant impact in Africa, which is reflected in the over $ billion worth of trade and investments it has attracted into the continent over the past decade. Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, as you are aware, staying competitive is what all companies strive to do. Innovation plays a key role in this equation. I am therefore elated that this morning ATI will speak about how it is providing innovative products and services to better suit the needs of banks and financial institutions. I am confident that the strategic partnerships of local banks and ATI will provide an opportunity for growth in credit particularly to the Small and Medium Enterprises which face major challenges in the trade sector.
Jean-Claude Trichet: European priorities - an ECB perspective Speech by Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB, at the European Institute, Washington, 23 April 2004. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, The introduction of the single European currency has been a historical landmark. For more than five years now, we have had a single currency and a monetary policy conducted by the Eurosystem, consisting of the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the euro area. The euro has been firmly and credibly established as a stable currency. The euro area has witnessed a period of moderate inflation rates and low long-term interest rates. Almost all countries have seen their lowest market interest rates since the Second World War. Where do we stand now and which are the “European priorities” we are currently facing? I would like to concentrate on three key priorities, which I consider particularly challenging at the current juncture: the historical enlargement process of Europe, the need for higher growth and employment by means of structural reforms and the necessity of implementing an original concept of fiscal surveillance in a single currency area. The historic enlargement of Europe Ten countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Mediterranean will join the European Union (EU) on 1st May 2004. This upcoming enlargement is profoundly rejoicing. It is an emblematic illustration of the victory of political democracies on totalitarism. It is a living demonstration of the efficiency of market economy rules.

Singapore has political and economic stability, well-regulated financial markets, excellent transport and digital connectivity, a skilled talent pool, and extensive trade linkages with ASEAN. Singapore has one of the most vibrant PE/VC ecosystems in Asia. PE/VC assets under management increased by 42% year-on-year to $ billion in 2021. Over the last five years, growth in PE/VC investments has averaged nearly 30% per annum. As of June this year, there were a total of 428 PE/VC managers in Singapore, up from 336 at the start of 2021. Many existing players have expanded their capabilities and investment teams. The Asia Pacific region remains the top investment region for this group of managers, with 55% of assets invested within the Asia Pacific. Singapore accounted for 46% of the record-high $ billion in VC deal value in ASEAN last year [5] . To make PE/VC investment opportunities more accessible, we now have private market platforms in Singapore – such as ADDX and CapBridge. MAS is working to anchor more such platforms here. Investing to deliver sustained long-term returns in an increasingly uncertain world is no easy task. I hope today’s conference will give you ideas for growth and opportunities to connect with valuable partners. Thank you and best of luck. [1] Boissay, F, De Fiore, F, and E Kharroubi, “Hard or Soft Landing?”, BIS Bulletin No.59, July 2022 [2] BIS Annual Economic Report 2022 [3] Bain & Company Asia-Pacific Private Equity Report 2022 [4] Preqin Territory Guide ASEAN 2022 [5] Preqin Territory Guide ASEAN 2022
At the same time, there has to be a global understanding of what regulation means, since regulations could otherwise, given the global interconnectedness of financial markets, be easily leveraged and since fair competition can only be assured when the rules of the game are the same. •  I remain convinced that regulation and supervision must be sensitive to risks. This means that the bank that takes greater risks and poses a greater threat to financial stability must also be subject to stricter rules and/or limitations on its business  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  activities. If our set of rules was to treat different risk profiles in the same way, then we would subject conservative, low-risk banking business with low yields to the same requirements as high-risk business activities, thereby making the former uneconomical. In my view, that would be creating the wrong incentive. •  We need a shrewd supervisory authority that monitors compliance with the rules and supervises banks in a consistent and tough but fair way. It needs to be shrewd because it must be able to use its discretionary powers correctly when regulating matters and weigh different arguments on a case-by-case basis. In this role, supervision must be able to act across national borders, because that is the only way to ensure that large, internationally active institutions, too, are subject to consistent and comprehensive control.

The SSM allows us to compare and adapt supervision across 19 countries, to identify best practices and to ensure that they are implemented consistently through effective quality assurance. There are now completely new possibilities for comparative and cross-sectoral analysis than were available at the national level. For our tasks, we can use information and insights from banks with very different business models. This enables us to identify risks and undesirable developments more clearly and at an earlier stage, and to take suitable countermeasures. We can also put work on banks’ internal models, which have a significant influence on a bank’s capital requirements, on a new footing. We will use the opportunity, given the improved level of data and insight, to implement strict rules for the approval and ongoing supervision of internal models. Despite this progress, there is still a lot to do in the further development of supervision. The effectiveness and efficiency of supervision is dependent on the legal framework it applies, although this is not the sole determinant. Soft European standards or diverging national rules impair the SSM’s ability to take action and its effectiveness. And this does not just concern  4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  national rules that affect the quality of banks’ equity. The SSM applies 19 different national legal frameworks and not only when, for example, we examine the professional suitability of managers in large, internationally active banks.
By comparison, we are still in the Stone Age in respect of deploying macroprudential policies. There is lots of scope for academia to help us out here, on both the theoretical and empirical fronts. Even so – indeed, in large part because of that state of relative ignorance – I think one can lay out some key principles that should govern the deployment of the FPC’s tools. It will be very easy for the future FPC, particularly during long periods of tranquillity, to slip into the temptation of neurotically twiddling the dials on its instruments or issuing recommendations left, right and centre. But what will determine the worth of the FPC will be whether it is successful in heading off the really big risks – in other words, avoiding a repeat of the sort of crisis we have just experienced. Ensuring resilience, rather than fine-tuning the credit cycle, must be the name of the game. Second, when the FPC does find it necessary to act, it will need to show resolution in taking the punchbowl away as the party is just getting going. With recent events so fresh in everyone’s memories, this may not seem much of an issue now. But in a decade or two’s time, when recent events have receded into history, such actions will be less welcome. No doubt there will be plenty of people willing then to claim that “this time is different” and that the FPC’s actions are unnecessarily inhibiting growth.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the People’s Bank of China (PBC) are looking to enable designated banks in Singapore to offer custody and trading services for global investors in China’s bond market. Third, providing opportunities for our financial institutions to grow in each other’s markets. The Bank of China and ICBC are among the select group of nine Qualifying Full Banks in Singapore; five Chinese banks are licensed as Wholesale Banks. All three Singapore-headquartered local banks are incorporated in China. The Shanghai-Singapore Connection Within this broader canvass of financial co-operation, the ties between Shanghai and Singapore have been intensifying. Singapore banks are deepening their partnerships in Shanghai – DBS and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank in loan syndication and joint bond underwriting; OCBC and Bank of Shanghai in digital banking and supply chain financing; 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  UOB and Shenergy Group in establishing a consumer finance corporation. Our exchanges are working closer together. The Asia Pacific Exchange (APEX), a commodities derivatives exchange in Singapore, is collaborating with the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE) to attract more international institutional investors to China’s commodity derivatives markets. The co-operation between the regulators has been growing stronger. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau have been organising since 2017 a joint training and exchange programme for financial agencies and institutions from both cities. MAS and the Shanghai Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau have also organised since 2015 four editions of the Singapore-Shanghai Financial Forum (SSFF).
Since the beginning of 2013, Spain has experienced a decrease in its unemployment rate of some 6 percentage points and Spanish growth is nowadays one of the main drivers of the European recovery. Contrary to preconceptions, France has also demonstrated in the past its capacity to meet the challenge of economic and social reform. In the 1990s, to prepare for the introduction of the euro, France pursued a competitive disinflation policy that proved highly effective. Remember that in the late 1990s, France experienced the highest GDP growth and the weakest inflation rate among European countries, along with a significant fall in its unemployment rate. Today, French reforms are heading in the right direction, [Slide 5] in particular the tax credit for competitiveness and investment (CICE) and the Responsibility and Solidarity Pact (RSP) that enhance the competitive strength of the French economy. A policy of administrative simplification, the so-called ‘simplification shock’, and a new law to sustain economic growth and entrepreneurship (‘loi Macron’), are also being conducted in order to rebuild business confidence. However, we are not there yet and a number of reforms need to be complemented. In particular, in the labour market: hopefully renewed progress will be made with the draft law under discussion in Parliament. Finally, in the euro area, fiscal policy is now more balanced since significant adjustment has already been achieved. Structural efforts and a growth recovery have led to a reduction in deficits and to a stabilisation in the ratio of debt to GDP.

2 CGFS (2015), ‘Regulatory change and monetary policy’, CGFS Papers No. 54, Committee on the Global  Financial System, Bank for International Settlements. 3 ICMA (2017), Regulatory Policy Newsletter, January. 5/5  BIS central bankers' speeches
We have no convincing answer to why Swedish consumers are less willing to use card payments than are their Nordic neighbours. One possible explanation is that card payments are, or are just considered to be, more costly, more complicated or more risky, in Sweden than elsewhere, by consumers or by terminal keepers. I will come back to this issue later. 2. Swedish consumers use debit cards rather than credit cards (fig. 2). Concerning preferences between debit and credit cards, clearly, Swedish card users favour debit cards, both in terms of value and volumes of transaction. In the year 2001, the number of debit card transactions amounted to just above 80 per cent of the total. Charge cards dominate the remaining 20 per cent. Credit cards with revolving credit arrangements do not seem to appeal to Swedes. In this respect, Swedish consumers' preferences are in line with those of consumers in the other Nordic countries and with those of continental Europeans. On the other hand, consumers in Anglo-Saxon countries seem to demand pure credit cards to a larger extent. Cultural factors may account for the different preferences between credit and debit card products. At least in Sweden, consuming out of credit is still considered to be somewhat irresponsible. In the old days of bank regulation, banks were not supposed to give credit for consumption purposes since available credit recourses should be channelled into productive investments. 3. The use of checks is negligible (fig. 3).

This meant that interest rates in several countries that had previously had a higher interest rate than Germany were reduced to a common euro level. In these countries, this contributed to a dramatic expansion of credit, rapid growth and a high level of inflation. In addition, regulation and supervision of the financial markets were national processes, despite that fact that the operations concerned were crossborder. However, it did not become apparent that this situation was untenable until the spring of 2010 in connection with the crisis in public finances in Europe. Each country certainly believed that they had good reasons for conducting their particular choice of monetary policy. But for the world as a whole, which in itself is a closed economy in which overall monetary policy affects growth and inflation, monetary policy became too expansionary. This resulted in strong GDP growth and rapidly increasing prices for crude oil and other commodities, as well as a rapid credit expansion and rising asset prices, above all for housing in certain regions. This ultimately led to the financial crisis when the housingprice bubble burst. Now, you may say that it is rather pointless to criticise something with hindsight. It is easy to say now what should have been done then. However, my point is not to criticise what was done but to learn from history. Even today, we can see the same pattern: that is an expansionary monetary policy for the world as a whole, strong growth and rising energy and commodity prices.