samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Let me expand on these aspects. The normal operation of markets and financial intermediaries requires the availability of a broad spectrum of assets with sufficient liquidity and bounded counterparty risk, including so-called “safe assets”. This is even more the case in turbulent times, as investors tend to react to increases in uncertainty by turning to assets with a lower level of perceived risk. As Holmstrom and Tirole1 put it, a safe asset is an instrument that allows wealth to be transferred from one point in time to another without any nominal loss. If you allow me the metaphor, the supply of a broad enough set of assets is the infrastructure in an electricity grid. A large enough infrastructure is needed to ensure the grid’s smooth functioning, in  1  Holmstrom, B. and J. Tirole, “Private and Public Supply of Liquidity”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 106, No 1 (February 1998), pp. 1-40 (40 pages). 4/8  particular, to allow it to withstand episodes of high demand. If not, the system is prone to disruptions and even blackouts. There is a wide consensus regarding the existence of a secular shortage of safe assets at global level. To put it simply, there is not much highly-rated paper available once holdings in monetary policy portfolios are discounted. This phenomenon has become more acute since the outbreak of the European sovereign debt crisis, given that some eurodenominated sovereigns have seen their ratings downgraded, in part due to the persistence of an incomplete EMU.

It has been accompanied by external surpluses that are larger than for many years, making it possible to repay foreign debt. Government finances, moreover, now show a surplus instead of the earlier deficits, which means that government debt is already being reduced in relation to GDP. The latest figures show that prices in Sweden’s economy are virtually stationary. The falling trend in market interest rates in recent years has been a major factor here in that it has reduced house mortgage interest expenditure and thereby temporarily exerted a downward effect on inflation. The underlying price trend is not, in fact, as low as the CPI figures might suggest but that does not alter the conclusion that in the years ahead, inflation will continue to be low. If Sweden sticks to disciplined fiscal and monetary policies, together with other ways of enhancing economic policy’s credibility, we have a real opportunity of reinstating the tradition of price stability that existed in Sweden prior to the 1970s and 80s. Let me give you a short historical background to our current economic policy strategy. Tradition of price stability In the period from 1830 to the late 1960s, the annual rate of inflation in Sweden averaged around 2 per cent. So if one disregards the 1970s and 80s, low inflation has been the norm for almost a century and a half. There are indeed grounds for saying that price stability is a long Swedish tradition. The tradition of price stability did not obstruct the economy’s development.
Niklaus Blattner: The task of overseeing payment and securities settlement systems Introductory remarks by Mr Niklaus Blattner, Vice-Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the end-of-year media news conference, Zurich, 12 December 2003. *  *  *  With the revised National Bank Law, the National Bank receives an explicit mandate to contribute to the stability of the financial system. This is, in particular, laid down specifically in the Law in the task of overseeing payment and securities settlement systems. Why does the National Bank oversee payment and securities settlement systems? By overseeing payment and securities settlement systems, the National Bank is supporting the security and efficiency of financial market infrastructures in Switzerland. In doing so, it is helping to ensure the stability of the financial system as a whole. This stability is essential to successful monetary policy in particular, and to the economic efficiency of Switzerland in general. The importance of a market economy’s financial system derives from the function that it fulfils. The financial system is responsible for the allocation of financial resources and risks, as well as intermediation between savers and investors. A financial system can be described as stable if it performs these tasks efficiently and its markets and institutions prove themselves to be shock-resistant. Another part of a stable financial system are secure financial market infrastructures. These include, specifically, payment systems and systems for the clearing and settlement of financial instruments (securities settlement systems).

Our physical presence gives us the opportunity to better engage with and learn from our communities. Our mission is to make the U.S. economy stronger and the financial system more stable for all segments of society, and supporting local economies is a key part of that. The New York Fed is proud to be an anchor institution of New York City, and we want the city-and all of its people-to thrive. I'd like to share a bit more about why having these discussions is so important for the future of this city and for us here at the New York Fed. And with that, I must give the standard Fed disclaimer that the views I express are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Open Market Committee or anyone else in the Federal Reserve System. The City's Present and Future Native New Yorker John Jay Chapman once said, "The present in New York is so powerful that the past is lost." You can feel that powerful reality when you walk the streets today. Indeed, this city was once an epicenter of the pandemic: we were hit early, and we were hit hard. The virus spread rapidly, leading to widespread hospitalizations and a devastating death toll. During the initial months of the pandemic, one out of five jobs in the city disappeared. In the restaurant industry in particular, 70 percent of jobs were lost. Other industries, such as retail and even health care, experienced outsized losses as well.
Fernando Restoy: The financial sector and the banking union Speech by Mr Fernando Restoy, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain, at the Círculo Financiero, organised by La Caixa, Barcelona, 18 May 2015. * 1. *  *  Introduction  Good evening. It is a pleasure to visit Barcelona again and an honour to stand on this rostrum at the Círculo Financiero, which has borne witness to the key debates affecting Catalonian, Spanish and European society over the past forty years. Allow me to thank the organisers and, in particular, Isidro Fainé, for the opportunity to participate in this forum. Following Isidro’s suggestion, I have decided to share with this eminent audience tonight some thoughts on the transformation the Spanish banking system has undergone. I think the current juncture is a most timely one for addressing the subject: in July three years will have elapsed since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which marked the start of the financial assistance programme, approved by the European authorities, under which a most substantial portion of the reforms to the Spanish banking system were undertaken. Six months have likewise gone by since the Single Supervisory Mechanism commenced operating in the euro area, and the Single Resolution Mechanism has now been set up. These landmarks make for an appropriate setting both for reviewing the scope of what has been achieved and, naturally, for discussing the challenges ahead for Spanish banks in the new economic and institutional environment of which the banking union is a key part.

And from August 2024, the largest commercial banks active in retail payment transactions will be offering their customers the possibility of receiving instant payments. However, for instant payments actually to be available to commercial banks’ end customers, private sector solutions are still needed. According to surveys, many commercial banks are also planning to offer the possibility of sending instant payments from August 2024 onward. Competition among commercial banks should ensure that efficient payment solutions are offered to end customers, for example in ebanking. What do instant payments mean for the two-tier financial system? Instant payments settled in central bank money are an example of how our first principle – the division of labour between the central bank and the private sector in the two-tier financial system – enables successful implementation of innovations. With the introduction of instant payments, the end customers of SIC participants will also be able to settle their payments securely, quickly and in central bank money. In Switzerland, the irrevocable and secure transfer of value in central bank money in real time has to date only been possible for participants directly connected to the SIC system. This expansion of the group of participants brought about by instant payments corresponds to our second principle: the secure settlement of payments in central bank money. What about our third principle, the seamless integration of payment methods and forms of money? It is precisely here that we find the most significant innovation prompted by instant payments.
Also noteworthy is the fact that moratoria are more common in banks with higher credit growth in the years immediately preceding the outbreak of the pandemic. Looking ahead, the trend in employment and its distribution among households will be crucial in the coming quarters, as regards the materialisation of the financial stability risks posed by this sector. The ultimate impact will also depend on the effectiveness and continuity of the measures in place to sustain household income. 4  See Banco de España (Spring 2020), Financial Stability Report, Box 1.2, “Build-up of household debt defaults”. See P. Alvargonzález, M. Pidkuyko and E. Villanueva (2020), “The financial position of the workers most affected by the pandemic: an analysis drawing on the Spanish Survey of Household Finances”, Analytical Article, Economic Bulletin, Banco de España, 3/2020. 5  7  The real estate market Allow me now to briefly describe the recent developments in the housing market against the backdrop of the crisis triggered by the pandemic. After the very significant downscaling of housing investment following the crisis that began in 2008, which reduced its weight relative to GDP from 12% before the global financial crisis to levels close to 5% in 2019, in line with other European countries, this sector’s starting point was unquestionably less vulnerable. Moreover, the reduction in housing investment activity came about in parallel with a decline in house prices which, despite the growth observed in recent years, at end-2019 remained (in real terms) some 29% below the average nationwide levels observed in 2007.

Look at these two graphs. One shows the share of the US financial sector in GDP going back to 1860. The other shows relative skill-corrected wages in the financial sector and an index of deregulation (where down is more regulation). We can see that there is a peak in all of these measures around the time of the 1929 crisis, followed by a secular decline. Regulation reaches a peak and relative wages bottom out in the 1960s and 70s. Then there is a long climb until just before the current crisis. If this was all we had to go on, it would be difficult to escape a certain prediction of what happens next! The big question is what it might mean for growth and prosperity. So it is important that we strike the right balance, as it is so aptly put in the programme for this event. Thank you very much. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches
2  BIS Review 61/2001  d.  Fourth, the consolidation should not lead to loss of service for small depositors, for whom affordable banking services are a necessity. e.  Fifth, any cross-border partnerships should not result in the foreign partner taking control of a Singapore bank. I will elaborate on these five considerations in turn. Managing the integration Consolidation, whilst necessary for the local banks to be competitive, is not in itself sufficient to produce strong banks. Having merged, the banks will have to integrate and rationalise different management teams, information and risk management systems, and internal control procedures. The reality is that some mergers work while others do not. Good execution of a merger will produce a stronger bank, by yielding the expected synergies and cost savings. Poor execution will only lead to a more unwieldy and riskier bank. A larger scale and wider range of activities will demand stronger and more institutionalised management. Singapore banks have benefited from having their principal shareholders, including family shareholders, play an important role in overseeing the banks, although most no longer run the management. The controlling families have had the entrepreneurship and business acumen to build up the banks, and their long-term interests were substantially aligned with those of the banks. This situation currently serves us well, but is not likely to endure over the longer term.

Lee Hsien Loong: Consolidation and liberalisation: building world-class banks Speech by Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the Association of Banks Annual Dinner, Singapore, 29 June 2001. *  *  *  Introduction Two years ago, MAS embarked on the first phase of a programme to liberalise the banking industry. The aim was to strengthen our local banks through competition, provide Singaporeans with quality banking services, and enhance Singapore's position as an international financial centre. We phased in the liberalisation measures progressively, to give local banks time to upgrade themselves to meet the competition, and maintain the stability of the financial system. The first package of measures in 1999 comprised a few main elements. MAS permitted 4 Qualifying Full Banks (QFBs) to establish up to 10 locations each, relocate their existing branches and share ATMs among themselves. We granted 8 new Restricted Bank licences to banks that wanted to expand their wholesale $ business. We also gave Offshore Banks more flexibility to lend in Singapore dollars and engage in $ swaps, and even wider leeway to 8 Qualifying Offshore Banks. These measures marked the start of a major and irreversible process of change. We could not foresee exactly how the industry would respond and develop. So MAS committed to reviewing progress at the half-way mark before deciding on further liberalisation measures. We have now completed this review.
I expect the unemployment rate to edge down to slightly below 3.5 percent next year, the lowest level in nearly 50 years. In keeping with this strong economic outlook, I expect price inflation to move up a bit above 2 percent. Importantly, I don’t see any signs of greater inflationary pressures on the horizon. This is all very good news, especially in the context of the slow recovery and low inflation that has persisted in the years since the financial crisis. In light of the progress we’ve made on our monetary policy goals, the FOMC has been in the process of gradually normalizing monetary policy for the past few years. Looking forward, I continue to expect that further gradual increases in interest rates will best foster a sustained economic expansion and achievement of our dual mandate goals. Since first raising rates from near-zero back in December 2015, the FOMC has continued to 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  raise the target range for the federal funds rate as the economy has improved and moved toward our maximum employment and 2 percent longer-run inflation objective. Our most recent rate increase came in late September, when the FOMC set the target range between 2 and 2.25 percent.2 Throughout, we’ve repeatedly stressed that we foresaw this to be a process of gradual normalization, reflecting the balancing of risks to reaching our goals.

Typically, long and deep economic and social crisis have become the breeding ground of new philosophies of economic thinking, which, in turn, have encouraged significant policy changes and opened the road to economic prosperity. Adam Smith, John Keynes, Milton Friedman, and their economic thinking have emerged in the dusk of big crisis. Unfortunately, we are still waiting for a new philosophy; so the question arises: where is our philosopher? We clearly need a new way of thinking, a new approach to economic policy, a lot of new ideas. These new ideas are not easily discovered. They do not pop up themselves; they hide in the layers of economic and financial data, history of economic developments and economic thought, and philosophy of social interaction in the macro and microeconomic scale. It is not surprising that economists and politicians have started to challenge some beliefs that are regarded as universal economic truths. For example, GDP and growth are challenged as the best measure of happiness and prosperity, globalization is challenged for its externalities in the labour market and inequality, inequality itself is under investigation as a potential culprit of economic slowdown. Economic research must broaden its scope to consider all these areas in their work.
We do need to keep the pressure on the banks individually and collectively to make sure that they continue to pass through lower funding costs and are lending where they can. The Bank has made the funds available to support lending to UK households and businesses, it is up to the banks to deliver. That is one reason why we are publishing bank-by-bank outcomes under the Scheme. We wait to see what the impact is of the FLS on the stock of lending. The next data release on 4 March will be for end-December data. Even though lending rates have fallen, that is still quite early for much extra money to have flowed from the application stage into actual loans, compared with previous plans which showed that lending was most likely to fall in aggregate without the FLS. I would not expect to see a return to rising aggregate quantities until we start getting data for 2013 at the earliest. Indeed the aggregate data which have been published already – for all banks, not just those in the FLS – showed a small fall for the last quarter of 2012. Nevertheless, it does seem that we have the beginnings of a revival in mortgage activity which is visible in the approvals data and that trend is widely supported by business contacts throughout the country. The underlying message from the FLS is much the same as for monetary policy.

Ardian Fullani: Financial sector assessment program (FSAP) Speech by Mr Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the press conference organised in the context of the Financial Sector Assessment Program, Tirana, 15 December 2005. *  *  *  I have the pleasure to be here today next to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Bode and Ms. Laura Kodres, International Monetary Fund expert and one of FSAP mission leaders, on the occasion of introducing a very important document, such as the financial sector assessment program or otherwise recognized as FSAP. On behalf of the institution I represent I would like to thank the joint IMF/World Bank Mission for their hard and great job during their visit in Tirana. This assessment is a very significant financial passport, a first fundamental step to a professional and straight assessment of the financial system in Albania, taking into consideration each of its segments. A special thanks is also addressed to IMF and WB authorities, who considered our request to send to Tirana their representatives to enable the public presentation of the findings and recommendations produced by this assessment. I honestly hope the conclusions made by Ms. Kodres shall be bluntly and objectively assessed by you. I would like to stress that the recommendations made by FSAP mission provide a great assistance, and as such, they should be correctly comprehended and interpreted. These recommendations assist to a high degree each policymaker, supervisory institution, market operator, and obviously to media which is very much part of this process.
This will, in turn, help raise the comfort level and can usefully avoid potential policy missteps and create policy synergies that eventually foster confidence of investors. This is the kind of trust that no amount of legal text, conditions precedent, or covenants can match, but is developed through the friendship and goodwill among friends within the region. Countries in the same region tend to possess better understanding and coordination, and therefore, policies and initiatives at the regional level can be more effective and timely. Second, while the Asian financial crisis was a wake up call for Asia on the need for regional liquidity facility, Asian countries need to consider making such facility sufficiently large and effective with timely disbursement in light of the current global crisis. During the Asian financial crisis, more than 75% of the IMF’s financial package for Thailand came from the funding within the region. The present global situation has also reconfirmed the vision set for the by the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) that Asia needs to have its own regional liquidity facility to protect itself from contagion, be it caused within the region or from outside. It is therefore timely that coordination and cooperation among countries be further strengthened to ensure that prompt remedial actions can be put in place in light of the ongoing global financial crisis.

It is ironic that only when problems in advanced economies led to contagion elsewhere and large number of central banks entered into such swap agreements with the Federal Reserve, did the IMF agree to such an instrument. This also reconfirms the need for greater voice and representation of emerging markets in important international financial institutions (IFIs) as highlighted in the recent G-20 Summit Declaration. While the reform is underway under the IMF, it is only with hope that other fora, including, the FSF will take the issue into consideration more seriously. Let me elaborate further on the importance of having emerging markets participated in the systemically important international fora. I think you all agree at this advanced economies or emerging markets are all prone to sectoral imbalances, which, if left unchecked, can lead to a full-blown crisis, anywhere, any time, when the bubbles burst. The impact of a crisis in an advanced, systemically important country can be much broader and deeper, creating a larger scale of world-wide externality. Emerging markets, unlike others, have had our share of coping with new challenges brought on by this phenomenon as well as those created by us one decade ago. It is, therefore, not only the responsibility of advanced countries to be in charge of global surveillance but also the responsibility of emerging markets to share our views and experiences of how to reform ourselves to be better prepared for greater uncertainty.