samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Article 9 of the new NBL defines a wider scope of possible transactions. This allows the National Bank to further optimise the structure of its investments with a view to specific central bank needs. As part of this process, we are also evaluating the possibility of enlarging the investment universe. However, such an extension would raise a number of fundamental questions that will first need to be examined. Before the new law enters into force, we will establish and publish investment policy directives setting out how the Governing Board plans to make use of the extended investment policy scope. While our assets have already been managed largely in conformity with the principles of modern asset management, improvements were nevertheless called for. It was essential to bring our internal investment and risk control processes into line with the new legal framework. The opportunities for diversification brought about by additional investment instruments would, in principle, reduce the market risk of the investments. At the same time, though, the SNB would incur new risks, e.g. additional credit risks. In addition, corporate governance is to be enhanced. The primary goal is to segregate powers as far as possible: firstly between monetary policy and investment policy operations, secondly between investment strategy and its implementation through asset management, and thirdly between risk taking and risk controlling. There are limits to the principle of segregation of powers insofar as the Governing Board is responsible both for monetary policy and investment policy.

Philipp Hildebrand: The Swiss National Bank’s view of international financial markets against the background of trends in the United States Introductory remarks by Philipp Hildebrand, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the end-of-year media news conference, Zurich, 12 December 2003. *  *  *  The past year was a turbulent one for the international financial markets, which were essentially influenced by trends in the US. During the first half of 2003, market developments were shaped by economic and deflation fears as well as by the war in Iraq. In this environment, equity markets reached an annual low in March. In June, bond market yields fell to their lowest level. The second half of the year saw an economic recovery in the US, which is now spreading to other economic regions as well. Capital markets Long-term yields on Swiss paper rose by approximately 60 basis points from their low in June to roughly 2.7%, approximately tracking yields in the euro area. In both cases, yields followed the US market very closely, albeit with modest fluctuations (see graph 1). Under the present economic conditions, the interest rate environment in Switzerland is still viewed as attractive by consumers. The high level of new fixed-rate mortgages is an indication of this sentiment. The higher Swiss yields reflect the improved economic outlook and not inflation expectations, which are modest given that there is still pronounced underutilisation of capacities. In contrast to capital market yields, money market yields were decidedly stable.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: International thoughts on leadership – “Too many bosses, too few leaders” Opening address by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the launch of Leading Voices and the International Centre for Leadership in Finance’s (ICLIF) latest publication, Kuala Lumpur, 23 May 2011. *  *  *  Today I am pleased to launch the first session of LEADING VOICES, an international thought leadership series presented by The ICLIF Leadership & Governance Centre. This is where you will come up close and personal with exceptional and extraordinary leadership from various industries to exchange leadership thinking and realities in our now highly dynamic operating environment. Any individual who has assumed a leadership role – at any level in any type of organisation needs to have a platform that will provide an opportunity to meet other leaders and leadership thinkers to exchange and learn from each other's leadership experience. Leading Voices is that platform. These sessions will be arranged by ICLIF, starting with this inaugural session today. While leadership requires distinct behaviors, there are wide ranging leadership styles and approaches that have been successfully adopted. Moreover, the now highly dynamic operating environment has become more complex, ambiguous and uncertain. What are the ways then to lead and bring success to our organisations in this more challenging environment. While the foundations for leadership are essential, we also need to keep abreast of the new developments taking place and the new leadership capabilities needed in this ever changing environment.

ICLIF is also currently expanding its outreach beyond the Asia Pacific, Middle East and African regions. These initiatives are based on the conviction that human capital development needs to also include the leadership level. Human capital development in general is of strategic importance and is integral to the success of any organisation. Building human capital capability has never been more important in today’s world. Successful businesses of the future will be the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  ones that are able to fully harness their pool of talent. This more difficult operating environment demands new abilities to manage the new challenges and the new emerging opportunities, and the ability to deal with the high level of unpredictability. The role of leaders in such an environment is to create organisations that are able to effectively respond to the changing environment and at the same time nurture flexibility and innovation. Also important is that it is also supported with high values. Effective leaders in this era, will be those that can deliver results in this environment. It is all about having clarity of purpose and aligning the entire organisation to achieve these goals. Thus, the investment in leadership development is vital to equip leaders and future leaders with the necessary capability to perform their role in the organisation.
At best, risk managers end up being tolerated as a necessary evil and constraint to innovation, rather than valuable partners to significantly lift a firm’s growth potential. Today, risk managers are tasked to identify and mitigate risks in day-to-day business decisions. This inherently assumes that risk managers in the office are going to be always better at identifying risks in new business ventures than the individuals on the ground who are charged to lead and execute them. In a fast changing world, this is particularly problematic because it is more likely to place unrealistic expectations on risk managers. Of greater concern, it may not permit timely responses to emerging risks. It also slows the pace at which a firm can learn from and adapt their risk tolerance to new ways of doing business as it gains experience. The path forward therefore lies in making business leaders better risk managers. The role of risk 2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  managers in turn should evolve from directly supporting individual business decisions, to continuously pushing for more clearly defined risk appetite frameworks through engagements with the board, senior management and business leaders; by ensuring that management guidance is consistent with the risk appetite; and communicating the risk appetite in precise and specific terms across the organisation. Organisations will rarely get it right the first time.

But encouraging a strong focus on providing as much clarity as possible in setting the risk appetite for the organisation sets the tone and internal conditions for ongoing improvements in risk culture; it provides better alignment between business decisions and a firm’s risk tolerance; and ultimately, delivers a better balance between taking on too much risks and inhibiting the kind of innovation that we depend on to build successful businesses and economies. Achieving these outcomes is more urgent than we might think. In an online poll by Marsh last year, 91% of risk professionals agreed that understanding technological innovation is crucial to stay at the forefront of their industry. This corroborates the 2017 Excellence in Risk Management report – also by Marsh and the Risk & Insurance Management Society – which revealed that more than 90% of companies are either using or evaluating disruptive technologies, such as the Internet of Things and wearable technologies. Yet, more than half of organisations have not conducted risk assessments to deeply understand the risks associated with disruptive technologies, much less define the organisation’s appetite for such risks. Less than half (48%) of respondents said they have a cross-functional risk committee that manages these risks, never mind how effectively. And even this percentage has dropped from 52% in 2016 and 62% five years ago. These observations point to considerable scope to improve current approaches to risk management – at a time where business lines are already venturing into unchartered territory.
It needs to recognise that the improving terms of trade driving those improved prospects for activity is simultaneously weighing on both inflation (through the direct and indirect effects of energy price falls) and inflation persistence (by reducing the intensity of the distributional conflict, as the foreign claim on domestically generated economic surplus falls back). Having said that, some part of the recent positive news to UK employment and activity might have a less benign interpretation as regards inflation prospects. If it were to reflect a new positive demand shock, rather than the unwinding of the deterioration in the terms of trade, then – other things equal – it would strengthen the case for further monetary tightening. In that case, the recent improvement in the prospects for UK employment would challenge the view embodied in the MPC’s February forecast that an easing in the labour market – as reflected in higher unemployment, a lower vacancy-to-unemployment ratio, or less job churn – will ultimately weigh against persistent inflationary pressures. In interpreting the implications of recent data for monetary policy, the MPC will need to exercise its judgement about which of these two underlying stories is more relevant. Concluding remarks In February, the MPC signalled that it had adopted a more ‘data-dependent’ stance. This was consistent with establishing a clear inflection point in the upward path of Bank Rate – but not necessarily a pause, still less a turning point.

Response to the Bank of England’s Decision Maker Panel (DMP) survey shed light on the potential for such changes in corporate pricing behaviour. The slides accompanying this talk illustrate these data. 22. This point has been well-articulated in the euro area context in a recent ECB blog: Arce, O., E. Hahn and G. Koester (2023). ‘How tit-for-tat inflation can make everyone poorer,’ ECB. 23. For a discussion of this issue, see Lorenzoni, G., and I. Werning (2023). ‘Wage price spirals,’ MIT working paper. 24. An illustration of this point is contained in the slides that accompany this evening’s talk. My thanks are owed to Philip Schnattinger and Brad Speigner for their considerable help in articulating the argument. 25. For a discussion of this in the US and European contexts, see Rotemberg, J.J. and M. Woodford (1999). ‘The cyclical behaviour of prices and costs,’ ch. 16 in Handbook of Macroeconomics 1(B), pp. 1051-1135, Elsevier and Galí, J., M. Gertler and D. Lopez-Salido (2001). ‘European inflation dynamics,’ European Economic Review 45, pp. 1237-1270. 26. See Layard, R., S.J. Nickell and R. Jackman (2005). Unemployment: Macroeconomic performance and the labour market. Oxford University Press. 27. See Pissarides, C.A. (2000). Equilibrium unemployment theory. MIT Press. Huw Pill Chief Economist and Executive Director, Monetary Analysis  ©2023 Bank of England
In this regard, the reform in late 2022 of the Code of Good Banking Practice (CGP) focuses precisely on orderly debt restructuring for household segments with a high degree of socio-economic vulnerability. The Banco de España will assess its implementation as more data become available. How different banks and financial systems position themselves against these risks will determine how resilient they are. In this regard, amid such high uncertainty, including that surrounding the degree of monetary policy tightening, Spanish banks must implement a prudent provisioning and capital policy. A policy that earmarks part of the short-term increase in earnings to bolster the sector’s resilience would thus put it in a better position to absorb any potential losses should the worst risk scenarios materialise. From a European standpoint, it should also be noted that a smoother-functioning euro area with improved governance would contribute hugely to making the European financial system less vulnerable. In particular, the creation of a fully mutualised European deposit insurance scheme would boost the confidence of citizens and the markets and contribute to increased risk-sharing in the euro area and, thus, to reducing potential episodes of fragmentation. 9  The values within this range are obtained based on different assumptions regarding the percentage of debt that matures in the short term and is refinanced. The 6.8 pp impact at the upper end of the range assumes the full renewal of the debts maturing in the short term.

Three reasons for delay, and four reasons for hope So why have these two major European projects struggled to get off the ground fully six years after they were launched? After a strong initial impulse which quickly gave birth to an effective first pillar – supervision –, the Banking Union has been on hold for several years due to lengthy and not very productive discussions, in particular on the third pillar (deposit insurance scheme). When it comes to the CMU, its first action plan back in September 2015 had already identified a number of improvements that are still valid today; its main weakness was not in its content but in the lack of implementation. Let me start with three bad reasons for that. A first explanation would be that Europe only moves forward in times of crisis. This is partly true: the Banking Union and the CMU are two examples of 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  initiatives taken in the aftermath of the financial and sovereign debt crises. Yet we should not wait complacently until the next crisis to act; it is precisely because we are not in an acute crisis situation that we should move forward now. Second, both initiatives can be described as arid and technical. This is not an issue in itself; we are accustomed to complex topics. But here we may have created a maze of technical and interconnected sub-topics, and lost sight of their original political purpose.
The focus of monetary policy will remain oriented to consumer price stability, whilst endeavouring to accomplish successfully all the other legal objectives. Albania’s financial stability remains another major priority for the period to follow. To this purpose, the Bank of Albania is fully committed to monitoring the situation and designing and implementing proper measures timely and at the right intensity. Lastly, in the capacity of the Governor of the Bank of Albania, I guarantee that the central bank will continue to provide a responsible, accountable and transparent reporting to the Albanian Parliament without hesitancy to meet the constitutional and legal obligations. In addition, in full observance of the legal obligation to preserve the autonomy of the institution I preside, I assure you that I will make any ethical, legal and constitutional endeavours to ensure that our accountability before you and the public at large is unbiased and true. Expressing my highest considerations on my behalf, on the behalf of the Supervisory Council and the Bank of Albania staff, I avail myself of this opportunity to thank the Albanian Parliament for the contribution and continuous support provided to our institution. Thank you. 10  BIS Review 78/2010

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There are two facts which illustrate this trend: the number of monetary financial institutions (which has already been decreasing steadily for several years) fell by 5% in one year in 1999 (up to the end of November); and the total value of mergers and acquisitions involving banks in the euro area clearly exceeded (by around 35%, according to certain private databases) the already high level recorded in 1998. In 1999 it was also above the level of similar transactions reported in the United States. Conclusion Price stability and the creation of a large integrated financial market are therefore beneficial to the development of savings in the euro area and to their optimal allocation. It would certainly be wise to ensure that certain financial imbalances are not allowed to jeopardise this favourable environment. Thus, insufficient fiscal consolidation leads to a continuous eviction by the states of a significant part of the available private savings. In the same way, excessive taxation and wage increases out of line with growth in productivity sap the dynamism from investment and consequently also from savings. 3  BIS Review 6/2000  Its development also requires a certain convergence in tax systems. Ultimately, the health of the financial sector is essential to the protection of savings. Although the Eurosystem has no direct authority in the field of prudential supervision, it monitors risk developments in the banking sector, as it does more generally with regard to developments in assets prices, where these could potentially affect overall monetary and financial stability.

Second, inflation not only affects the system of measurement of prices for goods and services, it also affects the quality of indicators of profitability and of interest rates. By way of an example, the profits of a firm can be artificially affected by differences between the posting dates of payments and receipts or by the incorporation of inflation premia into flows of interest. Of course, these profits could possibly include a real gain linked to the reduction in real interest charges, but this does not correspond to the intrinsic profitability of the firm. In the same way, the comparability and thus the best selection of different investments is affected by the inclusion of higher inflation premia in reported rates of return. In addition, inflation discourages a long-term approach to efforts to save, as shown a contrario by the developments in long-term investments following the shift of monetary policies in Europe towards price stability in the last few years. The substantial share of life insurance investments of non-financial agents in the euro area serves to illustrate the point. This has risen from 18% of investment flows of non-financial agents in the euro area at the beginning of the last decade to 26% on average in 1997 and 1998. In the same way, bond issuance in Europe intensified notably in 1999, although this is also explained by the disappearance of exchange risk within the euro area and the greater depth of the market.
Unemployment is likely to become entrenched – particularly in Europe where the labour market is less fluid and the ability to adapt weaker. This can be illustrated by comparing unemployment developments in the 1980s with current developments. Unemployment fell back fairly quickly in the US, while it remained high in the  BIS Review 15/2010  3  UK and other European countries through the decade. Entire youth cohorts did not achieve labour force attachment. Small countries such as Norway are dependent on a growing global economy with free trade and free capital movements. There is a risk of a renewed weakening in financial markets. Some countries may be caught in a continuous downward spiral. But so far the IMF has been able to provide support. There is also a risk that countries experiencing deficits and substantial unemployment resort to protectionism when their businesses are not sufficiently competitive. However, the rules of the World Trade Organisation, the WTO, have generally been respected so far. Mercantilist attitudes may also gain ground in surplus countries. Investment behaviour in these countries may be motivated by broader strategic considerations, which may prompt retaliatory measures and result in restrictions on cross-border capital flows. The Norwegian economy – two golden decades The downturn in Norway has proven to be mild.

The EMEAP Group believes that ABF2 will promote the development of index bond funds in the regional markets. We are also working with our ASEAN counterpart on an investors seminar to take place later in the year to raise global awareness of our capital markets. The treasury industry continued to grow robustly. Foreign exchange and credit trading activities were underpinned by market volatility and a slew of bond issuance in Asia. To support the broad-based growth in the financial services sector, much attention was placed over the past year on manpower and skills development. The Financial Sector Manpower Conversion scheme, launched recently, will contribute to ensuring a ready supply of skilled manpower in relevant growth areas. V  Playing a more active role in the international arena  Over the last year, we have continued our active role in regional cooperation, formulation of international regulatory standards, and active dialogue with our regional and international counterparts. This reflects our recognition of the importance of closer cooperation in a highly interconnected global market. These efforts are also in keeping with Singapore’s role as an international financial centre. 2  BIS Review 43/2004  We work closely with our ASEAN counterparts to speed up financial sector liberalisation in the region. Beyond ASEAN, we are actively involved in EMEAP. Last week, we successfully hosted the EMEAP Governors’ Meeting as well as the first EMEAP-Eurosystem high-level seminar.