samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The HKMA therefore expects that the security aspects of the system will have been reviewed by qualified independent experts and that the risk management systems and internal controls will be reviewed and evaluated on a regular basis e.g. by external or internal auditors. We also discuss with the banks their approach to the other types of risk described earlier, with particular focus on how the risks from the internet banking service are shared between the bank and its customers. Apart from these general considerations, a number of specific issues arise in relation to internet banking. The first is how we would treat the pure internet bank, i.e. a “virtual bank” that delivers its services entirely over the internet. If such a bank wished to be authorised to take deposits in Hong Kong, it could not be allowed to exist wholly in cyberspace. It would need to have a physical establishment here, either as a locally incorporated bank or as a branch of a foreign bank. This would be necessary to provide a point of contact with the bank in Hong Kong for both customers and the HKMA. In particular, we would require books and records to be held in Hong Kong which we could inspect. Also, like any other bank, a virtual bank would have a balance sheet and would need to hold capital and liquidity against the risks in that balance sheet.

Similarly, such an enormous increase in liquidity could lead to a build-up of significant inflationary potential. So it is too early to conclusively assess the impact of the measures taken. In general, though, they should be reserved principally for crisis management. Looking beyond the reactive crisis management, the aftermath of the  2  BIS Review 121/2010  crisis has brought an old question back into the limelight: To what extent should central banks proactively hinder the development of imbalances on the financial markets, rather than simply adopting an ex post “mopping up” role. More specifically: should central banks try to counter market excesses by steering interest rates in order to prevent a potential collapse of the financial system and the resultant costly implications for the real economy? This is a complex issue and answering it would go well beyond the scope of this talk. However, it is very topical and tends to recur constantly in the public policy debate. I would therefore like to give you my view on this issue. For a long time now, central bankers and economists have been examining the extent to which changes in asset prices should be taken into account in monetary policy. For example, this could mean that the central bank would raise interest rates if there was a risk that an emerging credit bubble could destabilise the system. The debate is fraught with difficulties, and though it started some time ago, research is still in its infancy.
See footnote 19 in Alogoskoufis et al (20201), op.cit. for data limitations. The right panel shows the relationship between net flows as a share of a fund’s lagged total net assets and lagged fund returns. It is based on a sample of 1,452 and 8,337 nonESG fund shares, and 131 and 1,017 ESG shares, of corporate bond and equity funds domiciled in the euro area between January 2016 and September 2020. Green funds are identified using text search for key words such as 'green' and 'environmental' in funds’ prospectuses. Controls include fund age, fund size, lagged flows and standard deviation of returns. Share and interaction-time-ESG fixed effects are included and standard errors are clustered at share level. EMIR: European Market Infrastructure Regulation. Promisingly, green bonds are roughly twice as likely to be held cross-border than other European bonds. And ESG funds appear more stable, with investors less likely to withdraw funds following negative performance than investors in other types of funds (Chart 3, right panel). Scaling up green finance could  therefore generate the twin benefits of supporting the low-carbon transition and supporting financial integration in the euro area. But it is important to avoid complacency. Further growth in sustainable finance may be inhibited if concerns about greenwashing are not adequately addressed. There are substantial data gaps surrounding direct and indirect emissions and forward-looking information such as targets for emission reduction. These gaps should be closed as a matter of urgency, which requires mandatory, harmonised and audited disclosure standards.

When we had to change to the flexible exchange regime, the exchange rate depreciated to a low point of less than 50% of its pre-crisis value before backing up to above 60. The exchange losses that occurred was, among other things, one of the major factors causing the level of non-performing loans to go up to the peak of 45%. This was almost one out of every two dollars lent out. What stress test can really prepare us for such an event? The second is to have the right infrastructure for the domestic financial markets. This topic includes many things like (a)  having the proper market rules,  (b)  having the legal framework that facilitates the enforcement of creditors’ rights,  (c)  having the laws and procedures to deal with bankruptcy,  (d)  having proper accounting and auditing standards as well as a reliable system of credit information on individual borrowers. BIS Review 52/2002  1  I can still recall that during the 1997 crisis, the inter bank market in Thailand ceased up for fear of counter party failure. But the problem also extended to the system of commercial trade credit between ordinary companies, the sellers and buyers of goods. Today, five years after the event, the system of trade credit still has not regained its full recovery. This problem can be mitigated with the function of credit bureau that reports regularly on payment behavior of commercial firms. Third is to ensure that there exists proper supervision of financial institutions.
3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  3  It is this glorious history of innovation and impact that the Bank seeks to celebrate on the new £ The new fifty will complement the celebration of literature on the Austen tenner, statecraft on the Churchill fiver, and the arts on the Turner Twenty coming in 2020. With the introduction of the new £ the nation’s banknotes will honour a wide range of UK achievement. In selecting characters for the nation’s banknotes, we are looking for someone from Great Britain or Northern Ireland who has made an invaluable contribution to UK society – be it through pioneering innovation, exceptional leadership, shaping this diverse society and forging its common values. As has always been the case, the Bank will not represent living people or fictional characters on our banknotes. I’m afraid that means Time Lords, of whatever gender, are sadly ineligible, despite their enduring popularity. In submitting nominations, we are encouraging the public to think creatively and widely about what “science” means. The Advisory Panel will consider individuals from the multitude of disciplines that fall within the general umbrella of science, from astronomy, biology and civil engineering through to zoology, and everything in between. For further inspiration, the Bank has prepared a short video. You can submit nominations anytime from today until the nominations period closes six weeks from now on 14 December. The Bank expects to announce a final decision in the summer next year.

We believe that the launch of the bulletin will help to raise product awareness and improve price transparency, thereby helping to promote the development of the retail bond market in Hong Kong. The bulletin is developed by the Central Moneymarkets Unit of the HKMA. We are delighted to have eight major banks, which are present here today, to be the price providers. Thanks to their support, indicative bid/offer prices of over 200 bonds of different currencies issued by both public and private sector entities will be available on bulletin. Investors may access the bulletin later today for bond information. The website address is https://www.cmu.org.hk. The bulletin also provides direct hyperlinks to the price providers’ websites to facilitate investors to approach the price providers for trading. Relevant transaction charges imposed by individual price providers are also posted on the bulletin. Retail investors can easily gain access to, and conclude trades with, the price providers in a convenient, secure and efficient manner. We are thankful to banks and potential users for their valuable comments during the development of the bulletin. We will monitor the usage and feedback to gauge whether there is scope for future expansion. We would welcome feedback from users and would endeavour to improve the bulletin on a continuous basis. Other banks interested to join as price providers are welcome to approach the HKMA for further information.
Therefore, the Stability and Growth Pact, which encourages the pursuit of disciplined and sustainable fiscal policies by Member States’ governments, is a crucial element for sustainable non-inflationary growth in the euro area. The consolidation of public finances, which has made considerable progress in the past few years, has to be continued and, in some cases, intensified. Setting the monetary conditions required to maintain price stability in the euro area is certainly the best contribution that the Eurosystem and monetary policy can make. To achieve this aim, the Eurosystem has adopted a monetary policy strategy which is tailored to the unique conditions of introducing a new currency. Our two-pillar strategy takes into account that economic behaviour may change as a result of the introduction of the euro itself. The first pillar lends a prominent role to money, as signalled by the announcement of a reference value for the growth rate of the broad monetary aggregate M3, which is regarded as being compatible with price stability; within the second pillar, the outlook for price developments is assessed on a broad basis, using a variety of financial and economic indicators. This strategy thus takes into account that the start of EMU constitutes a structural break. A better knowledge of the structure and functioning of the euro area economy, and of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy within it, will be gained over time. Similarly, the availability and quality of economic statistics will improve.

Therefore, in all of these instances, specific arrangements had to be devised in order to provide for the representation of the Eurosystem and the ECB. We have now reached formal and informal agreements with the IMF, the OECD and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) as well as in the G7 and G10 context. Let me briefly comment on two of these arrangements: •  In December last year, the ECB was granted permanent observer status in the IMF. This was a particularly important step. The IMF, as the cornerstone of the international monetary system, plays a key role in the process of multilateral surveillance of economic policies. The ECB Observer attends all meetings of the IMF Executive Board that are of relevance to the Eurosystem, such as discussions on multilateral surveillance or the Fund’s surveillance of euro area monetary and exchange rate policies. As far as the Interim Committee of the IMF is concerned, which has recently been given the new name of the “International Monetary  5  BIS Review 116/1999  and Financial Committee”, the President of the ECB participates in its meetings as an observer. •  Regarding meetings of the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, it was agreed that the President of the ECB will be the sole representative of the Eurosystem in discussions on multilateral surveillance and exchange rate issues. This part of the G7 meetings will also be attended by the Presidency of the Euro-11 Group.
Over the acute phase of the crisis, budget spending considerably supported the real sector. The effect of stimulus measures is expected to continue in the first half of the year as well. Further on, the scheduled fiscal policy normalisation will reduce the extent of this influence. Nonetheless, the budget will remain expansionary as compared to the long-term parameters provided for by the fiscal rule. In these conditions, economic growth will continue owing to a further revival of both domestic and external demand. The recovery of domestic demand will be driven by the cancellation of restrictions as the epidemic situation improves, especially in the service sector. External demand will be boosted by a rebound in the global economy. Disinflationary demand-side pressure will thus be decreasing overall. Given the current positive trends, we keep unchanged our forecast of GDP growth at 3– 4% for 2021. Furthermore, the economy may reach its pre-pandemic levels already by late 2021, and not by mid-2022, as we assumed earlier. This will become possible primarily as a result of a less significant decline in 2020. The second factor is inflation. Annual inflation sped up to 5.2% in January, exceeding the Bank of Russia’s target. This elevated inflation rate largely resulted from the pass-through of the ruble weakening and price growth in global commodity markets. According to our estimates, the contribution of the pass-through of the exchange rate movements to annual inflation approximated one percentage point. The contribution of high prices in food markets was slightly lower yet substantial.

We will start with the presentation of Professor Khalsa for about 40 minutes or so, which will be followed by a questions and answers segment. I would like to invite Professor Khalsa to take the floor. Thank you! 2/2  BIS - Central bankers' speeches
And the rising level of consumer debt means it would be reasonable to expect greater losses on it in our future stress tests. That might mean the system has a bit more difficulty passing future tests. If that were the case, a further strengthening of the defence line would be needed. We have already, in recent months, taken steps to strengthen banks’ defences against losses by raising the capital buffers they are required to hold on all their lending. 12  12  That was achieved by increasing the ‘Countercyclical capital buffer’ that banks must hold against their UK-related lending, from 0% to 0.5% of risk-weighted assets, and expect to raise it further, to 1%, in November. 14  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  14  And to make sure this defence line is kept robust in the face of rapid consumer credit growth, we are accelerating this year’s test of banks’ consumer credit loans. By September we will have assessed whether the rapid growth has created any small gap in the line. If it has, we’ll plug it. The third of our three defence lines is direct restrictions on high loan to income mortgage lending. Lenders should not extend more than 15% of their new loans at or above 4.5 times the borrower’s income. And borrowers are subject to an affordability test that effectively varies that loan to income limit for their 13  individual circumstances.

Lars Heikensten: The current economic situation Speech by Mr Lars Heikensten, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at a seminar organised by the SNS Center for Business and Policy Studies, Stockholm, 16 November 2005. *  *  *  “The Riksbank's most recent assessment of inflation prospects was published in Inflation Report 2005:3 on 20 October. There we painted a bright picture of economic developments in both Sweden and abroad. International growth was expected to remain good. In the United States, the strong growth was expected to slacken somewhat, mainly due to tighter monetary policy. This was expected to be counteracted to some extent by higher growth in the euro area. At the same time, it was considered probable that the strong growth in Asia would continue. As before, the growth figures in China were expected to be high, while the situation in Japan for the first time in more than a decade appeared to be relatively stable with rising growth. All in all, the global growth rate was expected to be between 3.5 and 4 per cent, which is slightly lower than last year, but still entails good opportunities for Swedish exports,” said Mr Heikensten. ”The information received since the Inflation Report was published largely confirms this assessment. Despite hurricanes and a high oil price, US households and companies have continued to increase their consumption and investment at a stable rate. Elsewhere in the world, too, we have seen a number of positive economic signals.
Others have argued that publishing pay gap data may discourage companies from investing in a pipeline of diverse talent for the future, as hiring younger and lower-paid workers could actually show up as a worsening pay gap in the near-term, even if it bears fruit longer-term. These are legitimate concerns. But they are far from being knock-down arguments when it comes to publishing pay gap data. Published pay gaps are a starting point for corporate and national accountability and explanation, not an end-point. No single metric can perfectly summarise all dimensions of diversity. But publication of a single metric can, and has, served as the catalyst for an explanation and action, at the company and national levels. For example, it prompts companies to justify their misses and to explain how and over what horizon they expect their pay gap and diversity targets to be hit. There is an analogy here with my day job – inflation-targeting using monetary policy. The single target does not wholly or perfectly summarise all dimensions of the economy. But having the target serves as a catalyst for explanation and action – an explanation for misses and an action plan for returning inflation to target. That improves policy accountability and societal outcomes. The same could be true of companies when it comes to diversity policies and outcomes.

Chart 19: Gender pay gap Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition time series  Per cent Unaccounted for  Accounted for  Gender pay gap  35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0  1997  1999  2001  2003  2005  2007  2009  2011  2013  2015  2017  2019  Source: ONS Labour Force Survey and Bank of England calculations. Note: A positive gender pay gap in this chart indicates that women earn less than men. Looked at regionally, although the unconditional gender pay gap is relatively stable over the sample in London, once we allow for compositional effects the picture is more promising. The unexplained (“pay bias”) component of pay has fallen over time in London, reaching 5.5% by the end of the sample. Outside London, the gender pay gap has also been on a downward trend, driven by both explained and unexplained factors. Next we implement the same methodology for the ethnicity pay gaps.10 Chart 20 shows the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of the ethnicity pay gap over the full sample. The conditional ethnicity pay gap averages a relatively modest 5% over the sample, smaller than for gender. This is no longer the case once we account for compositional effects. These point to higher, rather than lower pay, for ethnic minorities. Specifically,  10  The share of the ethnic minority population has been increasing over time in our sample from approximately 4% in 1994 to 10% in 2019.
The supportive packages, controls over prices, and the interventions of monetary policy have enabled and alleviated these shocks, and have kept the negative expectations of public under control. In the same spirit, Albania has remained neither affected not indifferent. The undertaken measures to control prices and the interventions of the Bank of Albania have calmed the energy and foreign exchange markets. Naturally, the above-stated events do affect both the present and future, by increasing uncertainty and the negative expectations. Education is the best response to fight against uncertainty. Today, more than yesterday we should properly understand the importance of financial literacy, which helps us in our everyday life, not only for well-informed decision making, also to properly comprehend and react to policy makers’ messages. Thus, the supportive polices undertaken will become more effective and support more strongly the mitigation of negative shocks. Being aware and making the right financial selections, everyone – banks, institutions, enterprises, households and individuals – may play an important role in dealing with the consequences of extraordinary situations that the world is suffering. This educational campaign of Global Money Week is an excellent event to recall certain messages that the Bank of Albania has addressed extensively, turning them into an important part of its efforts for meeting the objectives and preserving the economic and financial stability. I would like to point out three main messages, which nowadays, due to the geopolitical and financial situation become more meaningful.

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent developments in Ukraine, events that successively hit sharply the equilibrium state in each field of life worldwide, including economy and finances, trigger challenges to: managers of public finances; families and personal finances; as well, to everybody. This “New reality” for the 21st century has shocked financial markets and the increasing geopolitical tensions are continuing to generate consequences that may vary from relatively contained to very serious ones. Nowadays, almost the entire global economy is facing unexpected shocks, which have driven to hard and complex crisis. After a two-year pandemic period and the extraordinary measures undertaken by governments and financial authorities, the war in Ukraine has caused a new shock. These events, coupled with the implemented sanctions, have hit the global production, supply chain and public confidence, driving to an immediate effect in the upsurge of commodities 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  prices, like oil, petrol and food. It caused a chain of consequences, leading to an immediate and strong increase of inflation in worldwide economies, including the Albanian economy as well. To this end, they will impact the direct and indirect economic and financial equilibriums which demand for time and crucial interventions from authorities. In response, policy makers, governments and central banks across the world have already activated a set of measures for mitigating the impact of these successive and robust shocks on the economy.