samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
But there is still considerable scope for its development: •  Islamic finance presently forms less than 1% the global financial industry. •  For a large number of countries, even in jurisdictions with substantial Muslim populations, Islamic finance currently constitutes less than 5% of their financial sector. 1  •  And despite a record level of sukuk issuance in 2012, the industry as a whole is still largely concentrated on the banking sector. 2 There is much ahead in the journey to develop Islamic capital markets and the takaful (Islamic insurance) industry. I believe the next 10–15 years offer significant opportunities for the growth and diversification of Islamic finance. Let me highlight the reasons to be optimistic about its prospects:  1  Based on surveys of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB)’s members. 2  The Islamic Finance Mar 2012 report by the UK Islamic Finance Secretariat, a private sector industry body, estimated that the banking sector accounted for 93% of the global Islamic finance industry, with capital markets at 5% and Takaful at 2%. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  •  First, Islamic financial institutions have in the main escaped significant damage in the global financial crisis. They are well-placed to grow, at a time when many of the global banks, especially the European banks, are deleveraging or focusing on consolidating their balance sheets. •  Second, Islamic finance has much potential to diversify into new growth areas such as trade and infrastructure financing in Asia and the emerging markets.

I note from the very elaborate programme for this meeting that you will in the next three days cover a wide spectrum of issues some of which will focus on factors that constrain SMEs access to finance and some of which will focus on what needs to be done to change this situation. The meeting is, therefore, an opportunity for us to face a number of challenges that characterize this sector. These will include revisiting strategies and approaches to SME financing currently in use as much as it will require a review of current institutional arrangements through which finance is directly delivered to SMEs, on one hand, and those which indirectly obstruct or facilitate this flow of resources, on the other. However, I believe that probably the greatest challenge before this assembly is to attempt to narrow the gap between analysis of the problem and the implementation of measures and actions that work. Meetings, workshops, seminars, etc. on SME financing are plenty at national, regional and international levels. Some of you have had the opportunity to attend several of these meetings in the past. Indeed, some of you have become experts at talking about the subject. Barely two weeks ago, the Bank of Zambia held a financial sector forum here in Lusaka at which views of various stakeholders on what needs to be done to address binding constraints to the SME sector were considered. The fact that the discourse on SME financing continues underpins two significant positions.
As I mentioned earlier, stablecoins may be innovative in the technology they use, but the fundamental questions they pose are not new. We as central bankers and regulators need to look at them as what they propose to be – a new form of private money. This means that we will hold them to standards similar to those applicable to existing private money. It doesn’t matter what type of technology you’re using or the legal form of the firm. If a firm is offering private money on a systemic scale then it should be regulated as such. Our core rules and requirements came through trial and error, often following financial crises. Our work on a regulatory regime for stablecoins builds on this learning process – rather than starting at square one and expecting different results. I recognise that the themes here sound curmudgeonly. But this is not an anti- innovation message: quite the opposite. Establishing a secure regulatory environment for new forms of digital money to operate within the UK will lay a foundation for sustainable innovation. As I said at the outset, if new forms of digital money can be made safe, they could potentially contribute to faster, cheaper and more efficient 4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  payments with greater functionality. They could increase the resilience of payments. And they could even have long-term benefits for financial stability.

The key here is to ensure that just because something is packaged in shiny technology we don’t somehow treat the risks it poses differently. Private Money: the basics Before I turn to stablecoins I want to spend a minute on one of the reasons why the idea of private money feels innovative and flashy. Even though most money we use every day is already private money, the vast majority of us don’t think about it. Luckily, regulation means we don’t have to. Popular culture often simplifies our ideas around what form our money takes and can reinforce the idea that banks are simply storing our sterling issued by the central bank for us, and that when we pay electronically, what is being moved is central bank-issued money. For example, remember those iconic scenes from ‘Mary Poppins and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ which feature people demanding that banks give them back their money. But in reality, when you tap your debit card in a shop or pay your friend back via a bank transfer, the money you are paying with isn’t sterling issued by the Bank of England with a promise to pay the bearer – it’s a bank deposit. Those are just a record of how much a private company – here, the commercial bank – owes its customers. Think of it as an IOU from the bank.
From having increased by almost one million during the years 1950 to 2000, they will now increase by only 70,000 over the coming fifty years. This will increase the demands on the older population to participate in the labour force. According to a study by Statistics Sweden, half of old-age pensioners will need to work to support themselves in year 2035. The age composition will also make tremendous demands on welfare services, which will further increase pressure on the labour market and the need for an increased supply of labour. The average costs for care and welfare increase drastically as people become older and public expenditure on pensions, medical treatment and care of the elderly can be expected to increase from approximately 18 per cent to approximately 23 per cent of GDP around the year 2030. When the long-term growth rate receives a weak contribution, or none at all, from the labour supply, the dependence on labour productivity will increase. Compared with other countries, Sweden has managed fairly well in this respect; it is productivity growth rather than labour supply that has created growth in recent years. Labour productivity increased particularly strongly during the 1990s, which was due to several factors. One important factor was that many companies with a low level of productivity were put out of business in connection with the recession at the beginning of the 1990s, while other companies chose to cut back on unqualified employees with simple work tasks.

al, op.cit., who provide nominal GDP figures for 1800 and 1810 (but not for the intervening years). These have been used here as proxies for 1801 and 1808. The possible error caused by this approximation is mitigated by the fact that growth in 1809-10 is likely to have slowed considerably due to the increasing prospects of war with Britain. Data on federal debt are obtained from the United States Treasury Department, Public Debt Historical Archives (http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo1.htm). These data closely match those reported by Gallatin himself in State of the Finances, 1801-1802 (American State Papers, Finance, 1832, Vol 1, pp. 701-705; http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsplink.html). 4  BIS Review 106/2008  and cannot be attributed solely to the fact that Gallatin’s service at the Treasury coincided with a prosperous and peaceful period. To put Gallatin’s debt reduction efforts into perspective, it is worth comparing them to more recent developments in OECD public-debt-to-GDP ratios. For instance, growth in OECD economies was also relatively robust between 1994 and 2000. 23 But only one OECD country – Ireland – saw a similar reduction in its debt-to-GDP ratio during that period. Arguably, in the case of Ireland, debt reduction was easier. During the second half of the 1990s, Ireland enjoyed roughly three times the economic growth the United States is estimated to have experienced in the early 1800s. Ireland essentially grew out of its debt, while Gallatin had to save his way out of the debt burden of the United States. 24 Unfortunately for Gallatin, history took a turn for the worse in 1808.
– flexible: we cannot guarantee 2.0% either all the time or straight away. – and, consequently, medium-term. This medium-term target needs to be viewed in two ways: it is forward-looking, to guide inflation expectations; but it cannot completely ignore the past either. Should we go as far as targeting an average level of inflation of close to 2%, and therefore explicitly compensate for any undershooting or overshooting of the target over time? This question remains open, and will be part of the “strategic review” of monetary policy that the ECB will pick up again in the next few months. One key question in this case would be the period over which the inflation average would be measured: I think the public health crisis could provide some justification for this sort of “averaging”, at least temporarily, starting as of the beginning of the crisis. In the American debate, this is called TAIT (Temporary Average Inflation Targeting). Independence in implementing the mandate The ECB is independent on two levels. First, its action in implementing the mandate entrusted to it democratically under European legislation is not subject to approval by national governments, nor to national legal interpretation. Second, in its action, the ECB never submits to pressure from the market or from trends in the media. In the current context of an unprecedented rise in public debt, this independence is more important than ever. France’s debt should exceed 115% of GDP by the end of this year.

Given today’s decision, the key rate is at the top of this range equalling from 6% to 7% in nominal terms, or from 2% to 3% in real terms, which is the same, with inflation expected to reach 4%. In this regard, it is of note that the neutral key rate estimate is not ‘a point’, but a range of values. It depends on various domestic and global drivers, as well as the monetary policy transmission mechanism, and may alter, being affected by them. It will therefore take time to ‘feel’ the thresholds of this ‘neutral range’ and make sure that they are in line with our current estimates. If necessary, we will adjust these estimates. A sustainable inflation rate close to the 4% target will be the key criterion suggesting that we are right in our estimates of this range. 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches
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.

The knowledge you have acquired through your training here is only part of the cherished objective. The more important requirement is to conduct yourselves in a sound professional manner, comply with regulations, and invest your capabilities and knowledge to attain real professionalism. May Allah render your knowledge useful to you and your country. I wish you all success, and may God bless you. BIS Review 14/2007  1
This is an ecosystem comprising the innovation centres of our financial institutions, the mushrooming FinTech start-up scene, our institutes of research and higher learning, the VC/PE community of investors, and connectivity to regional markets. 12 We are making good progress: Singapore is home to more than 300 FinTech start-ups, focused on each segment of the value chain – from providing consumers more seamless payments services to offering institutions enhanced, automated fraud monitoring. More than 20 global banks and insurance companies have set up innovation labs and research centres in Singapore. Several will be opening their labs next week during the FinTech Festival, to showcase their experiments. MAS is working with the industry to facilitate greater collaboration. For example, MAS is encouraging the development of open APIs among Financial institutions to enable efficient data sharing. Our A-STAR’s research institutes are partnering financial institutions on data analytics and mobile technology projects. Our universities and polytechnics have also updated their curriculum and internship programmes to help their students get the hang of FinTech. Venture capital interest is growing, with some of the most active VC investors in Asian FinTech being based here. We have a growing network of co-operation agreements connecting Singapore to other FinTech centres in Australia, India, Korea and the UK. Indeed, FinTech offers an effective way for players in Singapore – both financial institutions and start-ups – to meet the burgeoning demand for financial services in the wider Asia-Pacific region. Nurturing promising FinTech start-ups 13 LATTICE80 is an important addition to this ecosystem for FinTech.

But the reality is that we are linked together in a complex economic and financial ecosystem where everything hinges on, and changes in relation to, everything else. The emerging markets have a great stake in the success of the developed economies in meeting their challenges – and the developed economies’ stake in the success of the emerging markets is no less great. Global prosperity is and will remain a joint and common endeavor. And, as the financial crisis and the Great Recession have painfully reminded us all, past performance is not a guarantee of future success. Thank you. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5
Rather than starting with a presumption that we will act in the United States and then hope to induce the world to follow, there are some areas where the more effective approach will be to start with the borderless solution by which I mean one designed to apply to a class of institutions and financial instruments, independent of geography and currency. Where this does not prove possible on terms or in a time frame we like, we of course preserve the option to move alone. Third, we live in a financial system in which nonbank financial institutions play a much larger role than they did in the past, a system in which the differences between the activities of the bank-centered financial institutions and nonbanks has diminished, and in which the largest commercial banks and investment banks compete with each other and with other nonbank institutions in both the United States and abroad. These changes in market structure have many positive implications for financial efficiency and stability, but they also mean that differences in the size and nature of the incentives faced by institutions with different supervisory and regulatory regimes can have larger competitive effects. The resulting opportunities for regulatory arbitrage have the potential to reduce the impact of provisions that apply only to regulated or supervised institutions. The risk that regulating the core of the system simply pushes financial activity to the periphery can raise the risk that distress among nonbanks can cause greater damage to the financial system.

These topics are of particular importance in the current context in which our economies are undergoing significant changes in the credit market as well as in the behavior of consumers and borrowers. Therefore, it is essential to upgrade financial infrastructures, which constitute a central element in the credit risk management system, in order to accompany these changes and help us to meet the challenges we face. Before concluding, I would like to emphasize the invaluable opportunities that the new information technologies can offer us in terms of data sharing, collection and storage. But they also involve major challenges, particularly in terms of cyber security and personal data protection. I wish you a successful and fruitful meeting, and hope that you can combine business with pleasure and allow yourself some time to discover the millennial richness of Rabat, this imperial city which was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site on June 29, 2012. Thank you for your attention. 3
Richard W Fisher: Forward guidance (With reference to Monty Python, Odysseus, Apollo, Paul Fisher, Deng Xiaoping and Mario Draghi’s Old Man) Remarks by Mr Richard W Fisher, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, before the Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Hong Kong, 4 April 2014. *  *  *  The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve System. Thank you, Alice (Mong). It is always an honor to speak before the Asia Society anywhere in the world but especially here in Hong Kong, one of my favorite cities. I was in Hong Kong during the transition ceremonies in 1997 when the White House called to ask if I would become deputy U.S. trade representative. It was a position in which I served for four years under President Clinton, and it put me on the path to high-level public service. That and my love for the spectacular food here have cemented Hong Kong in my heart. Thank you for inviting me to stop here on my way to Beijing. I want to talk today about “forward guidance” in monetary policy. It is the subject du jour of central bankers.

As a general rule, then, the further into the future a commitment extends, the vaguer it tends to be. Along these lines, the FOMC periodically reiterates its commitment to do what it is legally mandated to do: pursue full employment, price stability and a stable financial system. But getting from there to an actual prescription for the funds rate isn’t straightforward. If it were, FOMC meetings wouldn’t take eight-plus hours of discussion and hundreds of pages of briefing materials. Delphic forward guidance is less binding than Odyssean guidance. Like the responses of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, it is more obscure, more enigmatic. It amounts to saying, “Here’s what we think we are going to want to do if the economy evolves as we currently expect.” Delphic guidance clarifies your current thinking about future policy without making any promises – even contingent promises. Our current FOMC statement is chock-full of Delphic guidance.
2 Those included -  Parliament, in legislation, enshrining the goal of price stability, and requiring the Bank to publish a quarterly report on the outlook for stability  -  the executive arm of government deciding the definition of price stability (2% CPI inflation target) and setting out requirements for the Bank to explain publicly what is going on if the target is missed on either side by more than 1pp  -  the Committee comprising four ‘external’ members as well as five internal (or ‘executive’) members. The external members were necessary to legitimise giving such an important function to the Bank. ‘One person/one vote’, with transparency, was a mechanism for attracting high-quality ‘externals’ and for ensuring that the introduction of ‘new blood’ made a difference – that it did let in ‘fresh air’ and bring useful expertise to the table. And, of course, the system of individual voting had to carry across to the ‘internals’ too. Indeed, as most studies show, there is no difference between internal and external members in our decision-taking. The burden of that rehearsal of some UK institutional history is this: that, in comparing central bank practices, we should not think of our various decision-taking structures solely as technical solutions to the shared technical problem of deciding a path for rates. Rather, our varying structures are efforts to solve that shared technical problem in the context of varying histories and social and political structures.

These barriers include problems that relate not only to the physical access to financial services but also the high costs of the services and conditions that deter such access that result in disengagement in using financial services. Policymakers can contribute in five significant areas in advancing the financial inclusion agenda. The first is to give clarity to the financial inclusion agenda, in addition to driving the national commitment to financial inclusion. This includes defining the goals for financial inclusion that needs to be broad based and comprehensive. Universal access to basic financial services is desirable, but this needs to be differentiated according to the different segments within the economy. At one end of the spectrum, this may include those households and micro enterprises that will benefit from being brought into the economic mainstream while at the other end of the spectrum are those households and small and  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  medium scale enterprises that are already in the economic mainstream but are disadvantaged because they are not able to participate effectively in the financial system. The goal should also be to achieve sustainable financial inclusion outcomes. Secondly, policymakers have an important role in creating the right incentives and competitive environment for financial institutions to respond to the opportunities in financial inclusion. Interventions by the Government should not result in market distortions. As part of the regulatory regime is, however, the promotion of responsible behaviours to ensure access to financial services will be fair and at cost effective pricing.