samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
He secured greater financial security and independence for his family and at the same time, created jobs for 10 persons within his community. As a contribution to his community, one of the three branches was dedicated for micro-entrepreneurs in the locality to showcase their products, free of rental. This simple and generous gesture to share resulted in positive spillovers, where some once wayward school-leavers and young adults received the opportunity to become owners of small businesses plying delicate handicraft and innovative accessories. There are many examples such as this, that if done right, can create a virtuous cycle of 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  expanded positive spillovers that uplift the community as a whole. Despite what seems to be an increasingly crowded space, microfinance often ends up being relegated to government-sponsored institutions, non-profit enterprises and donor organizations, because it is perceived to be financially unsustainable if a certain scale is not achieved (usually very large) or imposing high interest rates to hedge risks or cover high operational costs. A growing body of experience shows that the reverse is necessary to deliver a lasting positive impact on the lives of the poor. I have alluded earlier that aligning operational strategies with behaviors of micro borrowers can improve loan performance, thus reducing risks to lenders. In insurance, traditional agency-based distribution models are being disrupted to lower the costs of on-boarding and servicing micro policyholders.

Christian Noyer: Fostering economic growth in Europe Introduction by Mr Christian Noyer, Governor of the Bank of France and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, for the Round Table 3: Bank of France Financial Stability Review “Financing the Economy: New Avenues for Growth”, at the Paris Europlace International Financial Forum, Paris, 20 April 2015. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, The purpose of this third round table is to launch the latest issue of the Banque de France Financial Stability Review entitled “Financing the economy: new avenues for growth” and which basically discusses the need for more market–based financing. I am thrilled to exchange views over this particularly topical issue today in a country that shifted towards market-financing a long time ago and which has a lot to tell us. In the United States, 80% of debt financing takes place in capital markets whereas this proportion is only 20% in the Eurozone. This new edition of our FSR, just like previous ones, brings together contributions from prominent academics, practitioners and policy-makers from all over the world. I warmly thank all the contributors. I cannot mention all of them but Sheila Bair and Barbara Novick among others are with us today. These contributions are very diverse, or even divergent, in their analysis and proposals. This is precisely how we want it to be. It is clear that we don’t necessarily share the views expressed in the articles but we believe in exchanging ideas.
24  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  24  Chart 27: Global activity indicators Index, 50 = no change  Percentage change, 3 months on 3 months ago Global manufacturing new orders PMI (lhs)  56  5 Global services PMI (lhs)  54  4 3 2  52  1 0  50 CPB world IP  -1 48  CPB world trade in goods  Global manufacturing PMI (lhs)  -2 -3  46  -4 44 2017  -5 2018  2019  Sources: IHS Markit, CPB and Bank of England calculations. It is notable that movements in global asset prices and companies’ expectations appear to have been large relative to the modest announced tariff increases. Based on the higher trade tariffs announced so far, and using standard trade models, we would expect a negative impact on global growth of a few tens of basis points.25 The adjustments in asset prices and business survey responses have been multiples of that. One way of beginning to make sense of this puzzle comes from casting our minds back a decade. Back then, we also saw outsized responses in global asset and output markets following a modestly-sized shock – a collapse in the US sub-prime market which at the time accounted for less than 1% of global wealth. This market’s collapse prompted the sharpest fall in global output and asset prices since the 1930s.

He said: “I have come around to agreeing with the HKMA that it could not simply stand by idly and BIS Review 85/1998  -6-  watch the speculators and hedge funds create a vicious circle involving the stock market, the currency and interest rates. ... When the hedge funds become a pack and attack a country the way they attacked Hong Kong, they are engaged in destabilizing and essentially immoral activity. They are intent only on making profits for themselves at the expense of The People. The speculators cannot be allowed to rule the world, and the State must use the weapons it has against them when they attack.” May I also leave you with this question: if the authorities of the freest market in the world are pushed into controversial market intervention action, could it be that there is something seriously wrong with the international financial architecture? Paul Krugman in one of his articles in a recent issue of the Fortune magazine provides some insight into this question. He said that “speculative conspiracies against companies are effectively regulated; those against countries are not... Capital markets are global, but the institutions that support and regulate them - that allow them to work - remain national. It’s hard to imagine how truly global institutions could come into existence - how we could, for example, prosecute American traders working in London for manipulating some market in China.
Moreover, we can fall into the trap of measuring our success in piecemeal reforms without asking whether the whole spectrum of economic relations have moved forward together. Therefore, we must bring the people forward with the reforms and ensure that they are politically accepted. If this is not the case, it may become a big obstacle to rapid transition (as I will explain further in due course). Which reminds me of an old joke that we used to tell during socialism, and it goes something like this. During a preparatory seminar for future members of the then almighty Communist Party the local Party Secretary explained to the group of candidates that the future belongs to socialism and that socialism is the most advanced system in the world. A young candidate asks a question referring to permanent meat shortages under socialism: Mr Secretary, if we are so advanced how come there is no meat in our shops? The swift answer was: “My dear comrade, we are advancing so quickly into the future that the cattle can’t keep up with us”. I am not I arguing for slower reforms in transition, on the contrary, but let us not forget in our rush to market economies that transition is done for the benefit of the people. 2. What “ingredients” do we need to achieve sustained, rapid growth? Economists agree that for transition to be successful we need sustained growth. Therefore, the question of what needs to be done in transition ultimately leads to the question of what causes growth?

But one should bear in mind that each situation is unique and must be dealt with on the basis of the conditions prevailing at that time. 2  BIS Review 119/2008  Worst case scenario One fundamental function of a central bank is the role as “lender of last resort”. If the Riksbank’s assessment is that financial stability is threatened, we have the possibility, in exceptional circumstances, to contribute liquidity to Swedish banks and other financial companies by granting liquidity assistance on special terms. However, this assumes that these institutions are sound and that they are under the supervision of Finansinspektionen, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. Let us assume, for instance, that a bank that meets the requirements and thus is assessed as having assets that are greater than its liabilities, nevertheless experiences severe problems in financing and acquiring sufficient liquidity to meet its payments. I shall briefly explain how such a situation can arise. In general, the banks finance themselves by borrowing money in the short term and lending it out on a longer term basis. When the banks lend to individuals and companies it is often on long-term contracts, which means that the bank cannot get the money back earlier if this should prove necessary. On the other hand, when the bank receives deposits from individuals and companies, they usually have the possibility to withdraw the money whenever they wish. Also when the banks borrow money in the financial markets this is often as shortterm loans, that is with a short duration.
I don’t mean it would be completely smooth right now; it would be smoother in a year or so as more progress is made. But in extremis, it could be done now. That surely is a massive signal to bankers and markets. Europe has not yet reached the same point, but contrary to some commentary is not far behind. The necessary legislative regime is close to completion. In contrast to the US, however, many of the largest European – including UK – banking groups will need to reorganise in order to make themselves susceptible to either Single Point of Entry or Multiple Point of Entry resolution. That brings me to my second point. (2)  The Single Point of Entry versus Multiple Point of Entry resolution strategy distinction may be the most important innovation in banking policy in decades  We will learn to speak of banks and dealers as either “SPE groups” or “MPE groups”. Some technical developments don’t matter hugely. This one does. A lot will follow from it, as I will sketch in a moment. But first I should recap the difference between SPE and MPE resolution strategies. A single-point-of-entry or SPE resolution works downwards from the group’s top company – most simply, a pure holding company (Holdco). Losses in subsidiaries are first transferred up to Holdco. If Holdco is bankrupt as a result, the group needs resolving. The “bailin” tool is applied to Holdco, with the equity being written off and bonds converted as necessary into equity to recapitalise the group.

For example, I have said on behalf of the Bank of England7 that in principle the Bank, as the UK’s resolution authority, would be prepared to step aside and allow UK subsidiaries of the big US financial groups to be resolved as part of a group-wide resolution led by the US authorities. To take this further, the Bank of England needs to set out the conditions that would need to be met in practice for it to deliver on its “in principle policy”. Second, the UK needs the US authorities to make a reciprocal “in principle statement” about their being prepared to step back to facilitate a UK-led top-down whole-group resolution of UK groups with a presence in the US. That cannot, in my view, wait very long after the EU’s Resolution Directive is passed. And, third, similar commitments need to be made between other pairs of countries – particularly the major jurisdictions in which the headquarters of global systemically important financial institutions are domiciled. On that, I can tell you that progress in this field is not limited to the US and UK. Separately, some technical impediments need to be removed. Perhaps most obviously for this audience, the standard market agreements for derivatives and repos need to be amended so that putting a firm into resolution or the exercise of a resolution power is not an event of default. If necessary, there will have to be regulatory changes to induce or require this. That too is on the FSB’s agenda for the next year.
Despite EU regulations on consolidated supervision, there is always the risk that no supervisory authority will gain sufficient oversight of and insight into all parts of a banking group. The supervision is also complicated by the functional specialisation within the banks, which does not always follow the national and legal divisions. If, for instance, a banking group with operations in two countries has concentrated all of its credit risk management in its home country, it will probably be difficult for the host country’s supervisory authority to assess the total risk in the subsidiary. On top of problems of getting a fair overall picture, there is the problem of coordinating information. When several authorities in different countries are involved, the information flow may be  BIS Review 39/2006  3  slowed down. The MoU on Cooperation between Banking Supervisors, Central Banks, and Finance Ministries in the European Union in Financial Crisis Situations that was recently agreed among the 25 member states provides a useful framework for sharing information in a crisis. Decision making In a crisis you need the ability to make rapid decisions. For example, central banks might consider providing emergency liquidity assistance. In some cases, there might also be reasons to consider a swift take-over of the bank and temporarily placing it under public administration. For decisions like these, you would ideally need a clear line of command. It is difficult enough to organise efficient management of a national crisis.

The average American with a college degree earns twice as much as his neighbor without a college education, which is about twice the premium that existed 40 years ago. Improving access to educational opportunity for all our citizens, regardless of race or the economic fortune of their parents, is critical to the credibility of the American ideal of equality of economic opportunity. As Larry Summers has noted, In our country today, a student whose parents are among the richest quartile of American is six times more likely than one from the poorest quartile to graduate with a B.A. within five years of leaving high school. And improving the capacity of our present and future tax payers to make informed judgments about economic policy is important to improving the quality of policy decisions by our elected officials, national and locally. This is vital in an era where we face tremendous challenges in bringing our commitments and resources closer to balance. Improving educational achievement, access to educational opportunity, and the level of public sophistication on economic issues are critical challenges with high returns to progress. This is why we will continue to invest in educational programs and why we are pleased to work closely with organizations as effective as the NAF in this noble cause. 1/2  I take some comfort in the fact that, when NAF students think of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, they know we have an important role in monetary policy and financial stability.
Under the provisions of Art. 10(2) of the Statute, two groups of countries have been formed at present according to the size of their economies and their financial sectors. The first group of five governors has four voting rights and the second group of 14 governors has 11 voting rights. 4  The unweighted qualified majority regime (two-thirds of the votes) is used in very specific cases such as that envisaged by Art. 14(4) of the Statute regarding the performance of functions by the NCBs which might interfere with the objectives and the tasks of the Eurosystem. Where decisions are adopted by weighted majority (Art. 10(3) of the Statute), the rotation of voting rights does not apply. In these cases, an alternate or substitute appointed for the meeting is allowed to vote, which is not permitted for other voting. The votes of the Executive Board have a weighting of zero. The weighted simple majority regime is envisaged for decisions on the subscription of capital and adjustments to shares (Art. 28 of the Statute), on the key for capital subscription (Art. 29 of the Statute) or on the allocation of monetary income to central banks (Art. 32 of the Statute) or of losses and net profits to central banks (Art. 33 of the Statute). Where decisions are adopted by weighted qualified majority, half of the shareholders (10) and two-thirds of the subscribed capital are needed. The type of decisions adopted using this regime are those affecting increases in and payments of capital of the ECB (Art.

And back then, everyone agreed that the revised rulebook needed to be a global one. The crisis clearly demonstrated that banking is a global business, so the rules that govern it should also be global. Today, however, it is much less clear whether everyone still subscribes to the idea of a global rulebook. And this worries me. It worries me because it shows that people are starting to forget the lessons we learned from the crisis. That’s why we need to finalise the global rulebook, Basel III, as quickly as possible. But that is just the first step. The second step is to implement and apply the rules in a broadly consistent manner at regional and national level. And this is a challenge – sometimes we see quite a different interpretation of the standards when it comes to implementing and applying them at national level. You won’t be surprised that I will focus on the euro area. The euro area countries have become closely intertwined. For many years now they have shared a single market and a single currency. Since the crisis, they have even begun to build a banking union, which includes a single supervisor. But when it comes to regulation, we still see differences between countries. It is true, of course, that we have a single rulebook in Europe. As one might expect for a union, 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  we had to come further than other countries. However, parts of that rulebook come in the form of EU directives.
Fatos Ibrahimi: Development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Albania Speech by Mr Fatos Ibrahimi, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the meeting of launching the "Program on the Development of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises", Tirana, 20 January 2009. *  *  *  Your Excellency Mr. Ambassador, Honourable Mr. Ministers, Honourable participants, It is a special pleasure for me to attend this event and I avail myself of the opportunity to greet on behalf of the Bank of Albania this joint recent initiative, between the Ministry of Economy and the Italian Collaboration. The financial support of small and medium-sized enterprises has a particular importance for the development of this project and for the release of managing abilities of the economic units. The financing of small enterprises, for the small developing economies, is a worthy opportunity to increase both the employment and the economic activity based on the initiative, ideas and producing capabilities of small groups or of distinguished individuals, who owns the courage and knowledge to generate material goods and to increase the welfare of the society. The small and medium-sized enterprises in Albania, over the transition period, have been growing with quick steps, hence showing up as a distinguished characteristic of the whole Albanian transition, having survived to the domestic economic difficulties as the fall of pyramid schemes or other problems related to the reforms and the process of completing the institutional and legal framework.

The contribution of small enterprises to the growth of service, construction, trade and agriculture sectors, where micro-enterprises compose the largest part of this group, has been obviously significant for the short-term and stable revival of the Albanian economy. These enterprises have provided a substantial input to the decrease of unemployment and to the rise of productivity in the aforementioned economic activities, with a considerable impact for the quick growth of the Albanian economy. The domestic economy is noticeably improved over the last decade and the progress made over an expanded period of these last years reflects a positive and relatively stable macroeconomic environment. The growth rhythms of real GDP, are assessed as plausible, and in general higher compared to the other countries of the region. The consumer price level as well, has resulted in compliance with the target of the central bank for the price stability. “The calmness” of the external factors that struck the supply reaction and the domestic macroeconomic stability, provided the inflation rate be normalised within the targeted limits. The developments occurring in the exchange rate already are perceived as stable compared to its high fluctuations characterising the ’90s. In the view of domestic currency against the main foreign currencies basket, LEK has appeared with appreciation tendencies on continual basis during an extensive period, thus acting as a softer against the imported inflation.
In addition, the rise in home prices led to an explosion of supply especially in areas like Arizona, Florida, Nevada and inland California, where buildable land was plentiful. As supply caught up to demand, this led to a downturn in prices. Once this occurred, the poor underwriting standards associated with subprime mortgage lending became apparent. Subprime borrowers could no longer easily refinance or sell the house at a higher price and repay the original mortgage. As Warren Buffett reportedly once quipped: “Only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked.” So what does this analysis imply for a central bank that might want to limit the development of such bubbles? The first conclusion is that assessing whether there is a bubble or not or the size of the prospective bubble is going to be very challenging. Because there is an innovation, asset values should rise, but by how much? It is difficult to assess what is the new, appropriate valuation after an important innovation. For example, consider some questions that might have arisen relative to the technology bubble: What does the Internet mean for technology investment? How many of the new business startups will survive and prosper? Is an Amazon rare? How fast will the volume of Internet traffic grow and for how long? Similar questions arose with respect to the recent housing bubble: How much will subprime lending increase the demand for housing? How will this increase in demand translate into prices?

For example, the technology stocks associated with initial public offerings were very difficult to short because the available supply or “float” was small – a high proportion of the shares in the companies were held by the original venture capital investors and subject to lock-up periods before the shares could be lent out to short sellers or sold. Similarly, housing is notoriously difficult to short. The option of selling one’s home in order to rent is expensive not only in terms of time and effort, but also in terms of transaction costs. And, shorting complex structured finance products was difficult because there were no standardized instruments; the securities rarely traded and were very difficult to value. It was not until the development of the ABX indexes – which allowed investors to buy and sell credit default swaps on pools of structured finance obligations – that investors had a vehicle that allowed them to short subprime mortgagebacked securities more easily. 6 Asset bubbles often come to an end when the basic belief system is contradicted by events. This can happen very naturally as a matter of course because economic fundamentals deteriorate, or because there is a change in rules or regulations that disrupts the balance between supply and demand. In the technology boom, this might occur because each company cannot get to the market first. So even if there is a first-mover advantage, not everyone will be able to take advantage of it.