samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
For a region where socioeconomic disparities are wide, where the rural-urban divide is pervasive and considerable segments of society are still excluded from the economic and social mainstream, these developments have enormous potential to transform the current state to one where the financial needs of all segments of society are catered to. Several pre-conditions however must exist to realise this potential, and they all have to do with securing the trust and confidence of consumers in the digital financial system. This includes a regulatory framework that is appropriate and proportionate, a secure digital financial infrastructure and incentive systems that are aligned with providers that are both responsive and responsible. In Malaysia, efforts that are underway to enact a new Consumer Credit Act will further strengthen the foundations for the development of consumer finance in the digital age. The proposed legislation is important on several levels. First, it will reinforce fundamental protections provided to consumers in the provision of credit, including that provided by a growing number of nontraditional entities through digital solutions. Second, it will institutionalise inter-agency arrangements between authorities responsible for regulating consumer credit activities to promote consistent minimum protections and fair treatment of borrowers. And third, it will provide stronger assurance of more responsive and coordinated consumer protection arrangements to take into account the fast-evolving financial services landscape going forward. Equally important is a strong focus on financial education to promote financially and digitally literate consumers.

In all cases, an indispensable ingredient of success has been an honest acknowledgement of the problem accompanied by the genuine desire of all the social partners to work out an effective solution in the national interest. In the current circumstances, sitting on the fence is not a responsible option. Not only does it become an uncomfortable position to maintain, but it also becomes less credible with time. There is indeed the danger that anybody who is not willing to be part of the solution will be perceived to be part of the problem. I, therefore, feel obliged to call on all the social partners to adopt a long-term perspective and sign up to a substantial reform package which would lay the foundations for renewed growth and sustainable development. A thriving economy is the best social policy. BIS Review 67/2004  5
The ratio of private sector credit used by households and firms to GDP has also rapidly increased, though it is still low in international standards. Of course, raising the share of private credits in the financial system does not necessarily mean that each and every segment of the population would gain access to financial services. The low-income segment of the society, in particular, may not have access to capital and that would have two principal adverse effects. First, they may not be able to raise the expected value of their income and therefore of consumption and future investment and asset accumulation. Second, due to lack of access to credit, the poor would face high variation in their income and consumption, and the downward risk on income threatens their ability to satisfy basic consumption needs. Increasing the funds available for entrepreneurs that have micro-scale business plans but do not have access to credit, have merits such as contributing to the production level and unemployment ratio while also strengthening the social structure of a country. Of course, it should be noted here that while the benefits from financing these activities are more or less common, selection of main business areas where these funds should be used obviously depends on country specific circumstances and needs. Dear Guests, In the last part of my speech, I would like to share with you my thoughts on the external sources of “access to finance”.

This database enables to prevent extension of credit to a person or legal entity exceeding its payment capacity. Applications are based on data exchange on loan limit and risk information on bank customers, protested bills information, identity information of the customers subject to non-performing consumer loan and credit card, and loan limit and risk information on customers of financial leasing companies and factoring companies. Currently we are at the process of transferring the Risk Center Unit to the Banks Association of Turkey. A separate and private company was also set up by private banks in 1995 as Credit Bureau to respond to the demands of the financial community. The Credit Bureau promotes the exchange of information among financial institutions about the credit history of potential customers. I should also emphasize the importance of the new capital accord, the Basel-II. Along with the implementation of Basel-II, the access of small and medium size enterprises to bank credit will depend heavily on their financial and organizational structures. According to the new accord, those enterprises that adhere to sound corporate governance principles will have an advantage in access to cheaper finance through banking sector. They will also have better access to finance if they improve their financial disclosure standards. Hence, it is  2  BIS Review 21/2008  imperative for small and medium size enterprises to take the necessary steps and prepare themselves for the requirements of the Basel-II without any delay.
23  Kose, M, Prasad, E and Taylor, A (2010), Thresholds in the process of international financial integration, Journal of International Money and Finance. 24 The G20 has previously discussed these issues, for example see Report of the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance (October 2018) and G20 Action Plan on the Development of Local Currency Bond Markets (July 2013) 25 Coman, A, Lloyd, S (forthcoming) In the Face of Spillovers: Prudential Policies in Emerging Economies. 18  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  18  Chart 17: The impact of macroprudential policy on Capital Flows-at-Risk Probability density 0.10  Average macro-prudential stance  0.08 0.06 0.04  Tighter macro-prudential stance  0.02 0.00  -8  -6  -4  -2  0  2  4  6  8  10  12  14  16  18  Capital flows as a % of GDP Sources: IMF, Cerutti et al (2015) and Bank staff calculations Notes: Chart shows conditional distributions of capital flows to EMEs under an average macro-prudential stance and a one standard deviation tighter macro-prudential stance, as measured by Cerutti et al. (2014). The unconditional distribution differs from others in the speech given data on macro-prudential actions only starts in 2001 rather than in 1996 as the rest of our data. See chart 5 and annex for further details.

They make threats, even though Member States have taken strong and positive decisions. Rating agencies behave as if nothing had happened. It may seem that agencies are no longer a useful guide for investors. Would you say that their judgments are based on political criteria? Indeed, in the arguments they develop, there are more political arguments than economic ones. Credit agencies have downgraded the ratings of three large French banks. Are our banks undercapitalised? No, they are very well capitalised, in particular compared to their European and US counterparts. The importance of this downgrade should not be overstated especially since rating agencies have recently downgraded most large banks in developed countries. There is no doubt that the capital buffers of our banks are largely adequate in relation to levels in the global banking system. It is true that we are asking them to enhance their soundness in order to meet the new regulatory requirements that have been agreed at the European and global level. Banks are doing this through their own resources and needless to say without State aid. That is why I have no concerns about the French banking system. Should banks’ customers, companies and individuals, fear a credit crunch? No, and the figures bear it out. French banks’ lending activities remain very robust: up 8% for mortgage lending, up 5.6% for corporate lending and up 5.1% for lending to SMEs. It is precisely their retail banking business that makes them sound and profitable.
Jaime Caruana: Basel II - emerging market perspectives Keynote remarks by Mr Jaime Caruana, Governor of the Bank of Spain and Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, for a panel discussion on “Basel II - Emerging Market Perspectives”, Bankers’ Conference 2004, New Delhi, 11 November 2004. *  *  *  Thank you, for your kind introduction and opening thoughts on the significance of the new capital framework in emerging market countries. I would like to thank as well the Indian Bankers Association and our host institution, Punjab National Bank, for inviting me to take part in your conference. It is an honour to be asked to share some of my thoughts on Basel II and its implications for a country such as India. I must confess that it is a still greater privilege for me to hear your thoughts directly on this new standard and the role it may play in a large, rapidly growing dynamic economy. A discussion on India adds the perspective of a country whose banking sector has been undergoing an important period of transition. The scale of that transformation is evident in the global aspirations that Indian banking organisations are now pursuing, as the title of this conference suggests. I would like to continue our discussion of Basel II first by discussing briefly why the Committee felt that the international capital standard needed to be revised and how Basel II addresses the Committee’s goals for it.

Nonetheless, we have worked hard over the past years to clarify the rules, to simplify those thought to be the most complex, and to provide options for those wishing to use a simpler approach. In fact, as the Basel Committee demonstrated in an annex to the third consultative paper, supervisors can select  BIS Review 68/2004  3  options that would result in a very simple set of rules that can be specified in just 12 pages of text. That is approximately half the length of the original 1988 Accord. The “simplified standardised approach”, as we call it, is intended to be useful for those countries that do not wish to adopt all of the options available under the new framework. The trade-off, however, reflects the fact that the policy balance at stake is between simplicity and risk-sensitivity; if one chooses simpler rules, the cost is less sensitivity to risk and hence greater conservatism in capital requirements. Competition and consistency of application Another broad concern that the Committee has worked to address is Basel II’s impact on global competition. In particular, some have asked whether banks that choose Basel II’s advanced approaches will enjoy benefits over those that choose simpler approaches. Others have wondered whether banks that remain on the 1988 Accord for some time will be disadvantaged. To respond to these concerns, we should understand that adopting an advanced approach does not automatically reduce a bank’s capital requirements. Basel II is intended to align capital requirements more closely to risk.
BIS Review 28/2007  7  The experience of previous business cycles has shown that wage and price inflation may increase markedly in a late phase of the upturn. Higher interest rates will counter such a development. However, we must also prevent inflation from becoming entrenched well below 2.5 per cent. We will therefore be mindful of the effects of higher interest rates on the krone exchange rate when inflation is low. Positive supply-side conditions that have held down inflation so far suggest a gradual approach, so that we can assess the effects of interest rate increases and other new information on economic developments. At the meeting on 15 March, Norges Bank’s Executive Board presented the interest rate path shown in the chart. The Board decided that the key policy rate should lie in the interval 4-5 per cent in the period to the publication of the next Monetary Policy Report on 27 June, conditional on economic developments that are broadly in line with projections. Furthermore, the key policy rate is expected to move up to about 5 per cent around the end of 2007. Economic developments are uncertain. The uncertainty surrounding the interest rate ahead is illustrated by the shaded area in the chart, which is intended to capture the outcome with a 70 per cent probability. Long-term interest rates, income growth and house prices Favourable economic developments in Norway have had an impact on developments in our property markets. House prices have risen sharply over the past 14 years.

20  These percentages should be considered as the lower bound of the total impact of the interest rate rise, as this would also reduce agents’ income, through its negative impact on economic activity, and would curb the accumulation of wealth on account of the higher net interest burden. 13  As far as general government is concerned, the steep rise in the public debt-to-GDP ratio seen since 2007 also means that public finances are more sensitive to interest rate movements. However, the fall in interest rates of recent years has led to a continuous decline in the interest burden as a percentage of GDP, while at the same time, longer average debt maturities (currently standing at more than eight years) limit the short-term impact of higher issuance costs. Specifically, incorporating the current market expectations for rising interest rates into the Banco de España’s latest macroeconomic projections, the public debt burden would increase from 2.2% of GDP at end-2021 to 2.5% in 2024. Under this updated scenario, an additional 100 bp increase in short and long-term interest rates, with all other variables remaining constant, will further drive up interest payments by around 0.4 pp of GDP by 2024. 14  As regards the impact of rising energy prices, variations similar to those observed between the Banco de España’s December 2021 and March 2022 projections21 would have moderate average effects on the degree of financial vulnerability of firms, albeit with notable crosssector heterogeneity.
Gent Sejko: Address to the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Finance Address by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, to the Parliamentary Committee on Economy and Finance, Tirana, 23 February 2022. * * * Honourable Chair, Honourable Members of the Committee, Thank you for this public hearing organised in the framework of my nominee for the renovation of the term as the Governor of the Bank of Albania. At the beginning of my address, please allow me to highlight that I am very honoured that the Parliament of Albania re-affirmed the confidence to continue to contribute in the field of Albanian economic and financial area management, as a member of the Bank Albania’s Supervisory Council. In the same spirit, I would like to point out that my nomination for the position as the Governor is motivated by an internal incentive: finalising the thoroughly transformation of the Bank of Albania and turning it in a modern central bank. In my vision, the Bank of Albania should converge towards the conjures of a modern central bank, suitable to be part of the European System of Central Banks; able to deal with the challenges lying ahead in the path of the sustainable economic development, for the comprehensive modernisation of the financial system, for the European integration, and in its function as a reliable partner of Albanian public, civil society and academic world.

These certifications will reduce costs and increase efficiency of our banking system operation. Complete re-scanning of our financial system – in collaboration with the World Bank and the IMF – (financial Sector Assessment Program) – to enable the identification and correction of its weak points in a timely manner. I consider that special attention will be paid on: the activity of non-bank financial institutions and convergence of their practices and regulations with those of the banking system. This will boost the effectiveness of financial system and fair competition within and among various segments of this system; fully efficient operation of the supervisory architecture of our financial system, starting from the Financial Stability Advisory Group (FSAG) and continuing with the practices on information share and collaboration amid its regulatory institutions; continuing the work for the reduction of foreign currency use in Albania, aiming at increasing awareness of both public and private actors on the risk it bears, thus by strengthening the response of the Albanian institutions. Third priority relates to encouraging formalisation, and increasing both financial education and inclusion. The relatively high level of informality in the Albanian economy stems serious negative consequences, through putting in threat competition, increasing uncertainty in commercial and financial relationships, and reducing public revenues. In this view, the Bank of Albania will continue to work to strengthen formalisation of the economy.
I would like to briefly recall why the Stability and Growth Pact plays such an important role: •  By supervising the fiscal policies of the euro area Member States, the Pact together with the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines contributes to ensuring an appropriate policy mix within the euro area. It is essential for conducting a meaningful monetary policy, to counterbalance the fact that Europe does not have a significant federal budget. •  By setting up a penalty system for excessive deficits, the Pact also helps prevent well-managed economies from having to bear an unjustified risk premium which would be transferred from poorly managed economies to them through the channel of the single currency. As regards the second common criticism against EMU, that is to say the lack of instruments to respond to asymmetric shocks, I would like to stress that the Stability and Growth Pact helps countering this argument. Indeed, by urging countries to aim at a fiscal position “close to balance or in surplus” in the medium term, the Pact enables them to let fiscal deficits increase, if need be, providing that they do not exceed the 3% reference value. In short, it allows them to create a fiscal buffer during normal economic periods, that can be drawn on to counter economic divergences or asymmetric shocks. The last set of criticisms focuses on presumed economic divergences between economies within the euro area.

4  BIS Review 11/2003  EMU fosters economic and financial integration Financial Europe under construction: the reorganisation of capital markets In 1999, as soon as the euro was launched, one of the expected advantages was the prospect of deeper, larger and more integrated capital markets contributing to reducing the cost of capital for businesses and giving Europeans a greater range of saving options. These expectations have become reality in both the money market and longer-term capital markets. On the euro money market, the unsecured deposit inter-bank market is highly integrated. EONIA and EURIBOR have provided the market with uniform benchmarks that are fully accepted by all market participants. This is reflected, for instance, in the huge development of the euro interest-rate swap market. On the euro bond market, the integration process has registered three main developments: •  a rapid internationalisation: The introduction of the single currency has fostered the euro-denominated private bond market, by enlarging the potential pool of investors, notably international investors. •  increased competition between issuers, which has encouraged the standardisation of sovereign bonds, the gradual convergence towards “best practices”, the development of a range of attractive and actively traded benchmark issues (especially for sovereign bonds). Besides, competition has also enhanced liquidity as issuers have increased the average size of outstanding bonds.
14  Øksendal, Lars Fredrik (2008), “Monetary policy under the gold standard – examining the case of Norway, 1893-1914”, Working Paper 2008/14, Norges Bank. 15  See Bjerkholt, Olav and Jan F. Qvigstad (2007): “Introduction to Ragnar Frisch’s 1933 pamphlet Saving and Circulation Regulation”, in Revisita di Storia Economica, Banca d’Italia. 16  See Eitrheim Øyvind., Jan T. Klovland and Jan F. Qvigstad (Eds.) (2004), page 293: “Historical Monetary Statistics for Norway 1819-2003”, Occasional Papers No. 35, Norges Bank, Oslo. 17  However, they were more flexible in September 1931. It only took seven days for Norway to follow the UK’s lead in abandoning the gold standard. 18  There was a consensus on parity policy in the 1920s. See for example Hodne, Fritz and Ola Honningdal Grytten (2002), pages 111-112: Norsk økonomi i det 19. århundre (The Norwegian economy in the 19th century), Fagbokforlaget and Skånland, Hermod (1967) “Det norske kredittmarked siden 1900 (The Norwegian credit market since 1900) Samfunnsøkonomiske studier No. 19, Statistics Norway, Oslo. See also Mykland, Knut (ed.) Cappelens Norgeshistorie, Vol. 13 page 86. 19  For further discussion of parity policy and Norges Bank’s role, see Ecklund, Gunhild J. (2008), pages 46-51 and 67-71: “Creating a new role for an old Central Bank: The Bank of Norway 1945-1954”, Series of Dissertations 2/2008, BI Norwegian School of Management, Oslo. 20  This link to gold was not as strong as when the obligation to redeem in gold applied.

This was probably also part of the reason for the acceptance of diverging from promises made, and may explain why transparency was of so little interest to the authorities. 6  BIS Review 136/2008  de facto devaluations of the krone in the period 1976-1986 25 , which led to high inflation. Data on price developments in Norway are available back to 1516. Five hundred years of price history show that in historical terms the inflation period in the 1970s and 1980s is unique. 26 Previously, periods of high inflation had been associated with government deficits as a result of war and unstable governments. This time, inflation was related to the system of economic policy management. The era of high inflation must be viewed against the background of the mixed experience of the parity system and reduced weight on keeping promises, ambitious economic stabilisation policies and belief in the validity of the Phillips curve. In addition, perhaps the importance of a stable value of money had lost some of its prominence. As there are many lawyers present here today, I will venture to comment on a case in your field of expertise: the so-called gold clause case (“Gullklausulsaken”). 27 The Norwegian government had issued a number of bonds in the period 1896 to 1909. 28 Many of the bonds were held by French moneylenders. The bonds were issued in the gold standard period and the moneylenders were promised repayment in “monnaie d’or”.