samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The perforated number (microperforation), for example, which was initially used only for the large denominations of CHF 100, CHF 200 and CHF 1,000, has been applied to all the existing banknote denominations since the 2000 issue. We cannot rule out the possibility, however, that one day - given the progress being made in counterfeiting technology - some of the currently used security features could be imitated. For this reason, we have to resort to state-of-the-art technologies and visual phenomena to protect our banknotes. As it is a long way between the development of such technologies and their readiness for practical application, our decision to develop a new banknote series could not wait any longer. Theme of the new banknote series The public is doubtlessly more interested in the theme and design of new banknotes than in the security technology. For one thing, the motifs must be easy to perceive and remember. For another, banknotes serve as a kind of national showcase. The visual appearance of our banknotes must both satisfy aesthetic requirements and convey values that represent our country and that are shared by the Swiss people. Several design and communications experts were asked already some time ago to consider a theme for the new banknote series, and a number of proposals were submitted. The Governing Board of the National Bank decided on the theme “Switzerland open to the world” (“La Suisse ouverte au Monde”). This theme permits the depiction of a modern and internationally oriented country.

Niklaus Blattner: New banknotes project of the Swiss National Bank Speech by Mr Niklaus Blattner, Vice-Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Media News Conference of the Swiss National Bank, Berne, 2 February 2005. *  *  *  Introduction The Swiss National Bank is obliged by the Constitution and by statute to pursue a monetary policy serving the interests of the country as a whole. This includes ensuring the supply of cash. The National Bank thus has the exclusive right to issue banknotes. Along with this right comes the task of creating new banknote series if necessary. A new banknote series as a precautionary measure Why does the National Bank at this point in time start with the preparations for a new banknote series? After all, the current banknotes were introduced not that long ago, between 1995 and 1998. Their design quality is very high and they meet contemporary requirements. In addition, they are still adequately protected against counterfeiting. And last but not least: is it really worth investing in the preparation of a new banknote series for Switzerland at a time when our country is surrounded by a single currency, the euro? Although our country's accession to the European Union (EU) does not seem to be an issue at the moment, it can by no means be ruled out in the future. An accession would probably also result in the adoption of the euro, ie Swiss banknotes might become obsolete.
There were long periods when the Icelandic króna was pegged against or managed with respect to the currency of some trading partner countries or a basket of currencies, with varying degree of adjustability and commitment. During the 1980´s the exchange rate regime had been relatively flexible. But in the first half of the 1990´s it became much more stable,  BIS Review 21/2003  1  after the króna was fixed in December 1989. Exchange rate stability during this period was one of the cornerstones of the successful disinflation policy that took inflation in Iceland down from double digits in the late 1980s to below 2 per cent around the middle of the 1990s. Once the liberalisation of financial markets was more or less completed in the mid 1990´s, exchange rate flexibility was gradually increased. The margins around the exchange rate target were widened from 2¼ per cent in either direction to 6 per cent in September 1995 in order to allow for the possibility of greater fluctuations in the exchange rate with more volatile capital movements. In February 2000 the target band was widened further to 9 per cent in either direction in order to create greater scope for monetary policy which was increasingly focusing on the maintenance of price stability. Recent experience around the world has demonstrated that it is difficult to maintain soft exchange rate pegs with free capital movements, and the same has been the case in Iceland.

In economic terms these new  2  BIS Review 21/2003  investments will amount to over 30 per cent of one year’s GDP and increase Iceland’s annual production capacity of aluminium from 270 to 740 thousand tons. The economy appears to have already begun adapting to the coming projects as reflected in exchange rate movements. As can be seen in chart 2. the króna was quite stable from the spring of 2002 until late in the year. It then began to appreciate and continued to do so steadily until early February 2003. It seems that the recent rice of the exchange rate is primarily due to the effect of the proposed construction projects on expectations. The current assessment indicates that economic growth could easily end up in the range 2-2½ per cent this year and well over 3 per cent next year. The outlook is for inflation to remain close to the inflation target during 2003 but it could rise in 2004. As these are the most extensive construction projects in Icelandic history, sound economic management will be required to prevent overheating in the economy, inflation and instability. Although their scope will be considerable, the Central Bank’s analysis of the prospective development indicates that, given appropriate economic policy and some strengthening of the króna, significant part of which might already have taken place, economic stability could be maintained and inflation kept under control. While monetary policy will probably play the major role, fiscal policy will have to assist.
BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  While such a decision remains possible, the choice of medium-term operating framework is now a genuinely open question and is likely to be become a key issue for the Bank as it considers the future design of the SMF. Whatever decision the Bank makes about its medium-term monetary policy framework it is likely that the floor system will be retained for some time after Bank Rate is increased from its current level. Conclusion The SMF defines how the Bank interacts with markets, when implementing monetary policy and providing liquidity insurance. It is important that we are open and accountable for the operation of the SMF. The MMLC itself and the new SMF annual review process help us achieve that aim. In recent years we have transformed the SMF, and we believe for the better. But reform of the SMF is an on-going process. As my remarks today have made clear, that process is incomplete: further changes to support liquidity insurance are in the pipeline and the Bank needs to keep under review its tools for implementing monetary policy. The Bank is both open for business and open to outside views, and we always welcome feedback from MMLC members or other interested parties on any aspect of the SMF, including at the forthcoming Open Forum. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches

Going forward, we should be careful to ensure that new regulations, for instance aimed at separating the banking and trading arms of universal banks, do not have negative consequences for market-making activities that are not justified by significant risks. Likewise, we should be mindful about the fallouts of an ill-designed financial transaction law. Conclusion Let me draw to a close. The euro area banking sector is facing challenges on all sides: from new technologies, from new market players, from new rules of the game. Those challenges, insofar as they lead to competition and innovation, are healthy. They are how a well-functioning market economy works. But we must also recognise that, in the euro area, we need sound banks. A weak banking sector means a weak economy. So I entreat banks to respond to the challenges of the new environment and reinvigorate their business models. And I entreat policymakers to create a fair, clear and consistent level playing field where that can happen. Thank you for your attention. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5
This would require institutionalizing the channels for information flows, governance structures and clarity of accountabilities as well as the mechanisms for dealing with disputes. Cumulatively, this would provide for a constructive relationship while preserving the independence of the central bank. An essential element in central banking that is paramount in an environment of great uncertainty is having a well-developed communication strategy. Unlike the mature evolution of communication strategy in the conduct of monetary policy, central banks’ communication with respect to financial stability is still very much in its early stage of development. Indeed, the recent crisis has clearly surfaced the need for central banks and policy makers to design communication strategy that balances the objective of providing information to the market and the public, while achieving an optimal outcome of enhanced financial stability. 4  BIS Review 155/2010  Conclusion Allow me to conclude. The rapidly changing global economic and financial environment will continue to exert much demands on the central banks. While extensive modernization and transformation of central banks can be implemented at the national level, the increasingly interconnected and interdependent world demands a greater emphasis on global perspectives and considerations. The greater interface at the international level has involved enhanced engagement to concrete collaborative actions. The common objective is surely for an inclusive participation in the international financial system that will facilitate the common agenda for a self-sustaining global growth and development. Thank you for your attention. BIS Review 155/2010  5

Therefore, cooperation of financial and business sectors is vital for lifting growth potential. The private sector needs to add more value to products and services by having long run commitment and investing in both physical and human capital, for example, high technology machinery, employee training as well as research and development. In order to support this, the public sector and Bank of Thailand can improve accessibility to sources of funds, especially for SMEs, and lower the costs of long-term investment. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bank of Thailand pursues economic growth as part of its commitment to sustainable well-being. Economic growth, as discussed today, is maximized by keeping growth close to potential as well as lifting growth potential itself. The central bank can contribute to growth potential by stabilizing the overall economy. The Bank of Thailand has looked after growth, price, and financial stability during the downturn, leaving the economy on a more confident track to recovery. As for raising growth potential, cooperation of all sectors is needed, while the central bank provides a favorable financial environment which is prerequisite. In the football game of the economy, the Central Bank acts as Center Back. In order to safeguard stability during the recent circumstances, we have played a proactive role due to high economic uncertainty. Now that political and economic clarity is higher, the central bank will play a supportive role.
2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Net income for the cooperative sector as a whole in 2015 exceeded € million, entailing an increase of close to 15% on 2014. The return on equity was 4.8%, having increased by somewhat more than 0.5 pp in 2015. This improvement in profitability is due to the almost 60% reduction in asset impairment losses over the past year (practically € million), the result of the reduction in NPLs I mentioned earlier. Net interest income held relatively stable, with both revenue and financial costs having fallen, while the efficiency ratio improved by several percentage points. As regards the sector’s solvency, the highest quality capital ratio, namely CET1, for Spanish cooperatives as a whole was 13.7% in December 2015, almost 70 bp up on the related December 2014 level. This gives a level of CET1 almost 1 pp higher than the aggregate for the Spanish banking sector. In conclusion, the cooperative sector in Spain is holding up with figures and ratios in line with those of the rest of the banking sector, and is currently evidencing solvency levels somewhat higher than those of the rest of the sector. Regulatory agenda: recent developments in the Basel III capital framework I would now like to review the reforms outstanding. But I shall first offer you a brief reminder of the key elements of the new regulatory framework we know as Basel III.

And third, and this would not only affect credit risk but might also have implications for the trading portfolio, there is a possibility that floors to the results of the internal models may be established, floors or minimum points that would be based on standardised approaches. Hence, the final result of a model could not stand below the threshold calculated using a certain percentage of the result that were to be obtained from applying the standardised approach. In our opinion, this review of the use of internal models pursues a reasonable objective, namely to reduce the unwarranted variability of risk-weighted assets that is manifest among banks from different jurisdictions, conditional – as I stated – upon this not giving rise to significant increases in capital requirements. We should further bear in mind that the greater regulatory requirements are not confined to prudential regulation. In this connection, allow me to refer to one of the key questions of the moment, namely the new requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL), which should allow for the bail-in of losses arising from bank crises, transferring the cost to private agents instead of the public coffers. The current European regulation approved in 2014, i.e. the Recovery and Resolution Directive, is very demanding. Generally, this regulation prevents the use of public funds if there has previously been no burden-sharing by shareholders and creditors for an amount, at least, of 8% of the total balance sheet.
It is better to keep all options open – you never know what window of opportunity may arise at some point in time. After all, an emerging society – with niches still to be exploited and transformations to be implemented – provides more opportunities both for entrepreneurs and for top professionals when compared to a more developed society, which has already settled on a stable structure. It is precisely these opportunities, along with all guarantees implied by EU and NATO membership that make Romania an interesting place to work and live in, even sometime it may not appear to be so. I guess that the things you hear about Romania most often, covered in everyday news, sometimes show discouraging situations, yet many things are moving in the right direction. To better understand this, it helps to think of the Romanian society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ion Luca Caragiale, who lived those times, tells us in his brilliant literary work that corruption, lack of meritocracy and a general disregard for rules were part of everyday life. Taking a step back from day-to-day reality (influenced by its mostly negative coverage in the media) and putting things into perspective, one realises that those times represented in fact one of the most successful periods in our country’s development. I believe that things are pretty much the same nowadays.

This is still a somewhat high number, given the country’s population, and above all, the similarity of products banks are offering. Further mergers and acquisitions may have a positive impact on cost management, which will in turn make it easier for economies of scale to be achieved. On the other hand, domestic mergers and acquisitions are unlikely to involve a cutback in foreign ownership. Enhanced cooperation amongst regulators and supervisors from home and host supervisors is thus essential to the continuing stability of the system. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Yet there exists no precise definition what international regulatory cooperation is. Most of the time, it brings to mind the system of committees and working groups meeting in Basel, at the Bank for International Settlements. The international regulations which are the outcome of the Basel system, comprise among other documents, Basel III, the bold new guidelines at the core of which is the concept of risk-weight; some assets are riskier than others and this should be reflected in the percentage of capital that should be held against them. For credit risk, this riskiness is taken to depend on the obligor, i.e. it is taken that savers and investors are almost inherently more averse to obligations of some entities than to obligations of other entities. This approach is not new, but an enhancement of the existing Basel I and Basel II infrastructure.
The 3.7 percent annual rate of productivity growth the U.S. economy has averaged since the end of 2002 is well above most estimates of the underlying or structural rate of growth in productivity, which tend to be between 2.5 and 2.75 percent, estimates themselves that are much higher than those of a decade earlier and reflect the outstanding productivity performance of the U.S. economy in the last 10 years. Much of the source of the recent productivity growth seems to be in multi factor or total factor productivity—in other words, in increases in the efficiency of business processes and the use of technology. These developments in productivity growth are important, of course, because of their potentially favorable implications for inflation dynamics and for future income growth. Overall inflation has risen over the past two years, pushed up primarily by higher prices for energy and other commodities and industrial inputs. Inflation excluding food and energy, however, has been quite moderate, in part due to very modest growth in unit labor costs. Survey based measures of consumer inflation expectations at longer horizons have remained stable despite the large increases in energy prices, though some of them remain slightly above the 1.5 to 2.5 range for the CPI index that some have cited as a reasonable definition of price stability in the United States. These favorable developments in fundamentals have been accompanied by important developments in financial markets. Expectations of future inflation have fallen, and there appears to be confidence in continued stable, low inflation.

But to acknowledge these complexities does not weaken the case for the importance of trying to make sensible judgments about how monetary policy should respond to asset price developments. Here are some considerations for how central banks should navigate through these challenges. 2  BIS Review 2/2006  First, in circumstances where the central bank observes a large realized movement in asset prices and is confident in its knowledge of the impact of those moves on the path of aggregate demand, monetary policy may need to follow a different path than might have seemed appropriate in the absence of those developments. In other words, when policymakers have already witnessed a significant move in asset values, and are confident in what that move means for the outlook, it should be prepared to adjust policy accordingly. Note that in order for this seemingly straightforward proposition to apply the central bank must be responding to its assessment of what an already observed movement in asset prices will mean for output and inflation. Of course central banks must always be prepared to respond when factors threaten to push aggregate demand away from aggregate supply and impact the inflation outlook. Movements in asset prices certainly have the potential to be one of those factors, and the implications of this approach apply in both directions.
This applies at any rate to interest-bearing assets, while for equities uncertainty over the future real value is only very slightly connected to the currency in which the share is issued. Basically, the earnings are determined by where the company has its production and sales and by the competitive situation. It is the profits that increase equity and thus shareholders' net wealth and real purchasing power. The choice of basic currency is not self-evident for multinational companies with owners, production and sales spread throughout the world. Essentially, it should be the shareholders' country of domicile that determines the currency. When this question was discussed prior to the introduction of the euro in 1999, the focus was on the size of the portfolio effects if several large multinational companies domiciled in Sweden were to convert to regarding the euro or another currency as their domestic currency. The connection was then made to the possibility of denominating and accounting in a currency other than the krona. There were considerable difficulties in assessing the possible size in portfolio shifts, but the illustrative examples then produced showed large shifts in portfolios. It was also assumed that demand for the krona on the futures market would decline significantly, as companies would not try to counteract uncertainty in profit forecasts by hedging expected net income in foreign currency against krona. Investments of liquid funds and profits accumulated over the year in krona would also decline for the same reason.

4  BIS Review 85/2001  However, in the short-term and medium-term, real incomes may vary depending on the currency in which wages and prices are contracted, as wages, prices and nominal exchange rates are adapted at different rates to changes in productivity. As we know, in the short-term and medium-term, nominal exchange rates can vary considerably, and to a greater extent than is motivated by the differences in inflation rates between different countries. This means that an article can have different prices in different countries during a fairly long period of time. This can be noticed for instance, in Sweden, where price levels are still higher than in other countries in most fields, without this being fully explained by differences in VAT. While Sweden's membership of the single market has certainly led to stiffer competition and greater price pressure in some areas, competition still appears to be weak in several branches and sectors. Increased competition contributes in principle to a convergence in price levels, as the rate of price increase declines, or as prices perhaps even fall on a market exposed to greater competition. All else being equal, inflation in Sweden would then be lower than the inflation target of 2%, and this would not normally be counteracted by the Riksbank's monetary policy, as it is a temporary effect. Naturally, it is difficult for the Riksbank to decide in practice whether such price trends are a result of increased competition unless they are, for instance, connected to changes in regulations.