samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
What this means is that we now have, in this time zone, a robust financial infrastructure for US dollar transactions that can accommodate, among other things, a US dollar bond market in this region. You do not have to wait until New York opens before you can achieve finality of settlement of your US dollar transactions in bonds or, indeed, in any US dollar denominated financial assets, if they are lodged with our CMU in Hong Kong. Furthermore, any Asian currency with an RTGS payment system, if it is linked up with our system, will be able to achieve PvP or payment versus payment for the two currencies in real time. We already have PvP for Hong Kong dollar versus US dollar transactions the first in the world. I have, as you are probably aware, drifted into the positioning of the Hong Kong bond market for meeting future challenges. We have, through our efforts in the development of the financial infrastructure, put ourselves in a position to play the ideal host to the bond market of the region, or of this time zone. I hope members of our financial community can leverage on this position of strength and bring issuers and investors of US dollar bonds to Hong Kong. Further development of the bond market is largely in their hands. As central banking officials, we in the Hong Kong Monetary Authority have done what we can appropriately do, in the provision of this public good a robust financial infrastructure.

Between the low risk-return bank deposits and the high risk-return equity market, there should be a risk-return profile that fits that of debt instruments. The trick is how this latent demand, involuntarily trapped at the two ends of the spectrum, can be brought out and satisfied. Investor education and the creation of a retail network to market debt will help. But the costs of the latter can be quite substantial and possibly prohibitive, particularly in a low interest environment, if the retail banking system cannot be relied upon to support this wholeheartedly (which I am glad to add is not the case in Hong Kong). Furthermore, when government debt is used by the banking system as assets for acquiring liquidity support, the demand from the banks may easily crowd out the retail demand. Nevertheless, the institutionalisation of savings, if this could be organised, through for example the introduction of professionally managed provident fund schemes, should be quite effective in harnessing this demand. This would, at the same time, enable the retail demand to be transformed into a level of sophistication that, with the appropriate supply response, will greatly enhance the efficiency and robustness of the debt market as a channel of financial intermediation. The seventh point I wish to make concerns the supply side. For an economy with a continuing need to finance budget deficits there is of course a natural supply of debt instruments, unless, like Hong Kong, it has surpluses to spend. But the story does not end there.
But everything is relative and I believe it’s not difficult to spot black holes, mistaken notions and errors of understanding on both sides. While these Tertulias are usually an opportunity to overcome some of these problems, they most importantly allow us to understand our respective stances on current, important or pressing issues. And we also enjoy ourselves. Because, unlike other meetings, the Tertulias are, from my experience, a rather entertaining event. I still have fond memories of the meetings I attended and the discussions we had in the now distant 1990s in Santiago de Compostela, in Seville, in Santander and also in Oxford and in Edinburgh. The Tertulias were instituted at what was a key time in recent European history: the disappearance of the Berlin Wall, German reunification, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the start of the European Monetary Union project. Next came the great economic expansion at the onset of the 21st century, the international financial crisis and the serious economic problems that have affected all of us, Spain and the United Kingdom included. The European Union and the Monetary Union are today at a difficult crossroads. They face a problem which, when the Maastricht Treaty was negotiated, we knew might arise: that the Monetary Union without fiscal integration would be an edifice with weak foundations. And although attempts were made to head off the risk with public deficit and debt rules, it was known that these were merely shoring up the building and that they could not resolve its fundamental weakness.

As you will have so many other matters to discuss, apart from the economy and the euro, you must forgive me for dedicating so much time to my own specific subjects. To conclude, I am sure these present Tertulias will, as in all the previous meetings, be successful, that the participants will enjoy themselves, and that our British friends will have very good memories of this visit to Madrid. Thank you. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches
In the past decade major headway has been made in many countries in areas such as the downsizing of the public sector, the efficiency of the tax system and, more unevenly, the workings of markets. That should not prevent us from acknowledging the weaknesses the European economy still exhibits. In particular, in a more competitive international environment, the continuing rigidities in goods and labour markets and the absence of sufficient incentives for innovation and the incorporation of new  2  BIS Review 39/2004  technologies are inhibiting investment in Europe, to the beneft of other more dynamic geographical areas. As a result, growth potential is being significantly impaired. Likewise, population trends in Europe are exerting growing pressure on the financial viability of the current public arrangements for social security and health-care. That tends to make those aspects of labour regulation and tax systems that act as a barrier to joining the labour market and to the reduction of the dependency ratio even more onerous. It may thus be the case in the current circumstances that agents perceive more clearly the potentially negative influence on their future income of structural deficiencies, and that this is inhibiting their propensity to spend. Accordingly, defining and boosting the reform agenda, in line with the commitments made at the Lisbon and Barcelona Summits, is not just necessary for ensuring greater sustainable growth in the medium tend; it is also a crucial requirement for improving agents’ confidence and, thereby, contributing to the dynamism of activity, likewise in the more immediate term.

Under fixed exchange rate regimes, a particular exchange rate serves as the instrument. Under monetary targeting regimes, the instrument is typically the quantity of central bank money in the banking system. 1 The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has used all of the above-mentioned instruments in its recent history. During the Bretton Woods period of fixed exchange rates, the SNB intervened in foreign exchange markets to keep exchange rates stable. After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s until 1999, the SNB adopted a monetary targeting strategy. During this period, the SNB used the level of bank reserves as operational target. From 1978 to 1979, the SNB temporarily abandoned  1  Since the quantity of money is directly related to its price, using the quantity of money as the instrument is fundamentally equivalent to using a short-term interest rate. BIS Review 30/2006  1  the strategy of targeting bank reserves in favour of targeting the exchange rate. Since the introduction of the new monetary policy framework in 2000, the SNB has used the three month CHF Libor as its operational target. 2 The precise sequence of the monetary transmission mechanism depends on the instrument which is used. I will assume that the monetary policy instrument is a short-term interest rate. This reflects common practice for central banks with floating exchange rates. Bond prices and the exchange rate Short-term interest rates alone have only limited direct effects on the economy.
The upstate New York economy is continuing to grow, but at a pace somewhat slower than the national economy. In part, this reflects the fact that the U.S. economy is recovering from a much deeper and more severe recession than Upstate New York. As the national economy continues to heal, places like Upstate New York, which didn’t see a huge boom and bust in housing and their economies before the Great Recession, don’t have as much ground to make up. But the region’s slow economic growth during the recovery also reflects the re-emergence of historical trends – Upstate New York hasn’t tended to perform as well as the rest of the country during economic expansions. Like many economies in the Northeast, Upstate has tended to grow slowly in recent decades, as the population has shifted to other parts of the country and the once dominant manufacturing industry has shrunk considerably. These same trends are playing out in the Syracuse area. Like Upstate New York more generally, the recession in Syracuse was not as deep as the nation’s. However, the Syracuse area experienced a deeper recession than Upstate as a whole, losing about 13,000 jobs during the downturn. The area’s recovery has lagged behind Upstate. So far, Syracuse has gained back less than half of the jobs that it lost. Recent job growth has been led by the region’s education and health sectors. Together, these sectors have added stability to the local economy and provided a foundation for growth.

Over the past several years, during both recession and recovery, these sectors have added about 1,000 jobs each year to the local economy. The leisure and hospitality sector,  4  For more thoughts on the monetary policy outlook, I refer you to the speech made earlier this week: Reflections on the Economic Outlook and the Implications for Monetary Policy. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  as well as the retail sector, has also been a solid source of job growth for the area. However, as you probably well know, job losses in the region’s manufacturing industry have weighed against these gains. About 9,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since the start of the Great Recession. And, while a slow jobs recovery began in the nation’s manufacturing sector in 2010, Syracuse has continued to lose these jobs in recent years – a painful process for the area to continue to endure to be sure. Nonetheless, these trends have resulted in a more diversified economy. In fact, the share of workers employed in the metro area’s manufacturing sector is now just 8 percent, just below the nation’s 9 percent share. The private education and health sectors have emerged as the largest industries, and now employ one in five workers. So, the face of the local economy has changed dramatically through a somewhat painful restructuring process. But I believe this process is reaching its conclusion, and the resulting more diversified local economy is providing a strong foundation on which Syracuse can build going forward.
When inflation reappeared, persistence did so too, and many analysts then thought that it would stay with  BIS Review 41/2009  7  us for a long time, since they believed indexation had revived strongly. I do not wish to discard this reasoning, but we have learned a lesson here, which should be confirmed in future research, that persistence is not stable, highly non-linear, and it greatly depends on the global context. This is particularly valid in a small and quite open market economy.7 Finally, I would like to make a reflection on the communicational challenge we are now faced with. Not only must we apply the right policies, but also put them in the right context. I have described a highly adverse global outlook, and some could have reservations about an authority doing this, since it could generate some degree of pessimism. Quite on the contrary, I believe that one must talk realistically and, besides, if we ignore how serious the global situation is, it would mean that we don’t have a clue to what is really going on. Trust is gained with sincerity and adequate policies for the current times. There is a second element that enables me to talk freely and bluntly: the conviction that our economy is healthy and very well prepared to face this present condition, which is something that did not happen in any of the former external crises.

For friendly societies seeking to merge their businesses, the PRA has sought to achieve proportionate outcomes within the parameters of the legislation. This has included waiving the requirement for an independent actuarial report where possible, in order to reduce the impact of the costs of transfer on member value. Conclusion The number of challenges we – and society – face present a full agenda for the Boards of mutuals and as they consider their long-term strategies. In order to continue to serve the wider economy effectively change is needed and as such, firms should be open to adapting their business models to ensure they remain sustainable, whether that be through upgrades in technology or – with due prudence – evolving their products. For some mutual business models, by design targeted at particular types of individuals, businesses or risks, the positives of specialisation can turn into negative concentrations of exposure, for example in Child Trust Fund business; applying sensitivity analysis and reverse stress testing to the business plan can help Boards assess, manage or at least mitigate those risks. We expect businesses with specialist offerings to be alert to concentration risk and, wherever possible, to develop mitigations that will enable those businesses to serve future generations as effectively they do their current members. I began these remarks noting the value of mutuals within the insurance sector and the adaptability that has been shown through the COVID 19 pandemic.
8 The emergence of homo sapiens globalus i.e. the global labour market Further in my speech, I would like to present two main global forces that will drive the emergence of the homo sapiens globalus: -  economic migration, i.e. relocation of people in search for better-paid jobs and better living standards;  -  outsourcing and off-shoring, i.e. relocation of workplaces in search of less costly or better qualified workforce to lower the production costs, increase the product and service quality, mitigate the risk, and boost innovation. People relocate in search for work – economic migration One of the strongest motivations behind migration is the difference in wages, or – more broadly – in the living standards between countries. Such differences have existed for many years, as is the case with migration. It may be expected, however, that the emergence of the global labour market coupled with the aforesaid demographical trends and the decrease in the cost of transport will lead to increased economic migration, including migration from poor countries and regions to the rich ones. According to UN estimates, in the period 1970 - 1980 the number of immigrants to the developed countries increased by 2.4%, in the period 1982 - 1990 by 2.9%, and in the period 1990 - 2000 by 3.1%. Migration adds to the value of the global income.

This means that more and more forms of activity will be generated by international optimisation of business processes. This in turn will force individual countries/regions to increase their attractiveness for the global business, which requires an active attitude of local selfgovernments. For instance, Dubai Outsource Zone is a government initiative, aimed to make Dubai a highly attractive international off-shoring/outsourcing centre. The concept of multi-off-shoring appears, where a decision on globalization of manufacturing entails starting business activity (routing orders) in several locations. There is a lot being said and written on the impact of globalization on the US economy, but there is a lot going on across Europe as well. Off-shoring of manufacturing and services to other countries is not the key reason for restructuring yet; however its significance grows year by year. The European Restructuring Monitor 15 website, at the end of 2005, contained a description of ca. 3500 cases of company restructuring in Europe, which has been announced in the media (international and national) since 2002. In the years 2002 - 2005 there were only 202 cases of company restructuring (i.e. 6% of total) which, as their main reason, reported the transfer of manufacturing or service abroad (that is colloquially called off-shoring), whereas in 47% the reason was internal restructuring, which could have partly resulted from the growing competitive pressure ensuing from globalization. The EU enlargement in 2004 led to significant changes in the off-shoring process across Europe.
However, it should be noted that in all those cases no central bank was pressurised to take the full responsibility and to be scapegoated, unlike the continual public attacks here against the BNB. In other countries the responsible institutions and politicians have always held the understanding that the central bank’s authority is of paramount importance for the calm of depositors and the stability of the banking system as a whole. All across the world that authority, and the independence of the central bank, are considered to be a long-term asset of the country. Consequently, central banks’ actions have not been compromised under the pressure of temporary economic or political emotions. All said so far does not mean that the BNB has no intention to draw conclusions for improving the efficiency of the banking supervision. Quite the opposite, the BNB has already undertaken serious steps in this direction. Back in the summer we publicly announced a number of measures and actions for reviewing the supervisory framework and practices. I wish to remind you that as early as in July we sent an official letter to the EBA inviting them to carry out an independent review of the quality, capacity, practices and procedures of the BNB’s Banking Supervision Department. In August we sent another letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) requesting them to organise a mission of the IMF and World Bank in Bulgaria under the Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP).

Without such analysis and assessment, the actual status of KTB’s capital position could not be determined and, respectively, the BNB Governing Council could not have the legal grounds to adopt the necessary decisions. On 12 December, CB Victoria will also open for business and its depositors will have access to all their deposits there. The very scale and power of manifestation of the problems in 2014 were unprecedented and unpredictable. The banking sector in Bulgaria, however, had the huge advantage of meeting the critical times prepared and in excellent condition – just as it coped to meet the global crisis several years before. Our banks had managed to accumulate high liquidity and capital buffers owing to their sound governance and the BNB’s focused conservative policy over the years. The available buffers plus the measures taken since June by both the BNB and the government, as well as by the banks, helped safeguard the banking and the overall financial stability in the country. This way, the KTB crisis remained an isolated case and did not affect the operation of the rest of the banking sector. A proof of this is the depositors’ behaviour who continued to entrust their savings to the banks despite the occasionally irresponsible public speaking against the banking sector and the incessant public attacks on the BNB. Only household deposits picked up by BGN 2.8 billion (7.8%) annually to October, exceeding the stock of deposits in May (the last month before placing KTB and CB Victoria under special supervision).
Further, our financial sector had no exposure to toxic assets, which led to the credit crunch in most developed  BIS Review 86/2009  1  markets. However, the current global financial crisis, with the subsequent global economic recession, has adversely affected Zambia, like most global economies, mainly through: reduced revenue earnings from mineral resources; job losses, particularly in the extractive industry; lower foreign capital inflow (both foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and foreign direct investment (FDI)); rising domestic inflation driven by pass-through effects of the depreciation in the exchange rate of the Kwacha against major currencies; and declining number of foreign tourists. Revenue earnings from mineral resources As you may know, Your Excellencies, Zambia, like many African countries, relies heavily on commodity exports. This has made the country more vulnerable to the global downturn. The global financial crisis and the plummeting commodity prices on the international market have negatively affected Government revenue. The global economic recession has resulted in a reduction in world demand for copper, which in turn, has led to the precipitous fall in copper prices. Copper prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell from highs of $ per tonne in July 2008 to as low as US $ per tonne in December, 2008. The dramatic decline in the price of copper has entailed reduced earnings from copper exports by mining companies and subsequently reduced earnings for the Government from mineral royalties and corporate taxes from this source as well as falling income taxes from employees in the mining and related sectors.

This publication aims to enhance the knowledge and information about remittances in the Albanian market, and to convey messages in the context of needs for intervention and the potential of remittances for various actors in the economy. For all the issues addressed above, especially related with the commitment of various stakeholders in the modernisation of payment systems in Albania, I invite you to actively participate and contribute to this conference. Concluding, I would like to wish you fruitful conference proceedings and thank you for your participation and attention. 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches