samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
But one thing is clear – in order to remain as a leading Islamic financial hub, Malaysia must uphold legal certainty for effective dispute resolution. As I mentioned earlier, Shariah certainty entails two unique challenges – Shariah prescriptions must both be infused into law, as well as applied to contemporary settings. These challenges are augmented by the fast-changing times in which we live. Business is constantly evolving, and finance is likewise far from static. The expectation now for our legal 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  system is to apply the principles of Shariah to novel products and approaches in a timely manner – while remaining clear, sufficiently flexible to innovation and yet faithful to the tenets of the religious sources. This is a tall order, and the jurisdiction which succeeds in doing this most reliably, will stand in good position, to ride the wave of the Islamic finance boom. Certainty around the Shariah rules applicable to a particular Islamic finance facility is crucial. Equally important is certainly on the legal enforceability of obligations in the event that there is non-compliance to the relevant Shariah requirements. Uncertainty in any of these areas may lead investors to view such facilities as high risk instruments, and in extreme cases even destabilise the Islamic finance market more generally. An interesting case in point is the one involving Dana Gas, which is now being considered by the High Court in London.

By the end of this year, Bank Negara Malaysia will have completed a compendium of regulatory standards to provide clarity on the Shariah and operational requirements for 14 Islamic finance contracts. This endeavour began in 2013, and incorporates the interpretation of the SAC. The task for the regulators is to come up with similar 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  standards in the future – especially as the market ventures into novel and more innovative approaches. This will provide an invaluable resources in helping Islamic financial institutions and their lawyers in structuring Islamic finance products as well as identifying the necessary legal documentation. Individual excellence At the individual level, the promotion of legal certainty will require a strong base of legal and Islamic finance professionals. As the domestic industry and global market for Islamic finance grows, so must our talent pool. Lawyers involved in product structuring, for example, can provide value-added advice to their clients on the parameters of Shariah requirements and legal rules, which helps in the design and developing the documentation of the products. Litigation experts with sound understanding of Shariah requirements can reason better in courts. Certification programs and targeted seminars such as today’s will be important in equipping legal practitioners with a solid understanding of both applied Shariah knowledge and the necessary legal expertise. In conclusion, the world of modern finance is in need of anchoring principles to ensure that intermediation serves rather than enslaves the real economy.
Two colleagues at the Bank, Fergus Cumming and Al Firrell, have recently used a database on all mortgages granted in the UK since 2005 to explore house-moving patterns.42 The results are preliminary, but let me share some of the early findings to demonstrate what might be feasible. Chart 19 plots the frequency of house moves at different distances in 2018. The modal distance of a house move is less than 10km. This is twice as likely as the second most popular distance – 10-20km. In other words, a gravity (distance) model of house moves fits the data, with around one-third of all house moves within 50km. Most house moves are local. Most, but by no means all. The median move is a little below 100km, the mean 130km. There is a longer tail of long-distance house moves than I would have predicted. 42  Although this may sound simple, it involves a complex matching algorithm to identify housing chains, similar to Chakraborty, Gimpelewicz and Uluc (2017). 31  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  31  Chart 19: Distribution of house moves by distance (mortgage-to-mortgage movers in 2018)  Sources: Product Sales Database and Bank calculations. Part of the explanation lies in regional and demographic differences. People outside London and the  South-East – for example, in Scotland – are much more likely to move greater distances (Chart 20). Older people (over 46) are more likely to move larger distances than younger people (under 33) (Chart 21).

Denis Beau: Financial supervisory and coordination - new issues and challenges  regulatory  policy  Contribution to the panel discussion by Mr Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the Salzburg Global Finance Forum, 22 June 2021. * * * Regulatory policy and Supervisory coordination has always been fraught with challenges. I remember panel discussions with market participants about this very topic at the BIS twenty years ago. No surprise for me that it is still a topic today, because there is a deeply rooted reason for it: the inevitable tension between market forces on the one hand, which push for a borderless financial system in many of its layers, despite step backwards, as we have seen since the Global financial crisis, and on the other hand the jurisdictions in which regulators and supervisors operate, are accountable and must discharge their obligations, which at best are regional for some and most often are national. This observation does not mean that we have not made progress in addressing this tension over the last decades. Nevertheless, I would differentiate between coordination issues to manage large-scale crisis and to prevent those crisis. Regarding the former, I think it is fair to say that the Covid-19 pandemic acted as a test of the resilience of our global coordination framework, which has improved with a strong G20 dimension after the GFC.
Ivan Iskrov: Growth and the financial system – lessons from emerging Europe with a focus on Bulgaria Speech by Mr Ivan Iskrov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, at the conference on “Achieving sustainable growth in South East Europe: macroeconomic policies, structural reforms, socio-political support, and a sound financial system”, organised by the Bank of Greece and St Antony’s College (Oxford), Athens, 11 February 2011. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a pleasure to be here at this conference, organised by the Bank of Greece together with St. Antony’s College, Oxford. Above all, let me thank Governor Provopoulos for the invitation and the opportunity to come here and, together with my distinguished colleagues from South East Europe, to be able to talk before such a reputable audience. As a central banker, certainly the financial industry is of direct interest to me. But although the topic of this panel is “growth and the financial system”, I would also like to go beyond it and touch upon other issues discussed so far today. Politics and politicians do matter The topics of the panels overlap and the four main sessions are arranged in a very logical sequence. I am saying this, because the financial sector does not function in isolation from the rest of the economy and the political stance. A strong financial system cannot co-exist with a fragile economy and political instability (at least not for long). The opposite is also true: weak financial markets and weak institutions hamper the sustainable growth.

These policies included: privatisation and limiting the role of the state in the economy; increasing the flexibility of labour markets; opening-up to foreign investments; liberalisation and eliminating barriers to competition; combatting corruption and other forms of public sector inefficiency, etc. The lessons from the previous crises and the EU accession experience are the major factor why emerging Europe is showing such resilience and flexibility now. These are the main reasons why the region has been weathering the current crisis relatively better than the rest of the continent. The case of Bulgaria: using growth to save for a rainy day By way of illustration, let me focus on the experience of Bulgaria. My country went through a severe banking and financial crisis in 1996–1997, when one third of the banks went bankrupt. There was hyperinflation and the confidence in the national currency vanished. That prompted the introduction of a very conservative monetary regime, the currency board, in July 1997. After that, inflation and interest rates went down swiftly and sustainably. Since then the Bulgarian economy has been growing in an environment of practically non-existent exchange rate risk, with highly flexible labour markets, hard budget constraints and fiscal discipline. The ratio of public debt to GDP fell from 105% in 1997 to 16% in 2010. The currency board arrangements are and will be our main anchor of stability and predictability till the euro adoption.
Two steps were taken in 2012 which fundamentally determined the balance sheet write-downs that Spanish banks’ income statements have had to absorb. The first was the requirement, laid down in the royal decrees of February and May 2012, to set aside provisions to reinforce coverage of loans to the real estate development and construction sector and of foreclosed assets. The second was the balance sheet writedowns stemming from the compulsory transfer to SAREB (the asset management company for assets arising from bank restructuring), at an agreed price, of the assets belonging to the balance sheet segments I have just mentioned. This transfer, made by banks under restructuring or resolution, affected assets totalling € billion in terms of their gross book value, with a transfer value of € billion. With this and other measures, Spanish banks’ exposure to the above-mentioned real estate risks has fallen since 2011 by slightly more than half, from € billion to € billion. In sum, write-downs by Spanish banks in 2012 totalled € billion, compared with € billion in 2011. Solvency Secondly, solvency. Despite the fact that the major clean-up and provisioning drive by the Spanish banking system in 2012 resulted in total losses of € billion, the system’s level of solvency has improved.

The children who are here today are growing up in a continent of peace. They belong to the “euro generation” – they have only known one currency. We invited them to attend a photo event with the Governing Council this morning. We are happy for them to be with us on this occasion to mark the launch of the next generation of euro banknotes. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1
Whether households will maintain that lower rate of saving, as in the MPC’s central forecast, remains to be seen – there must be a risk that consumption could adjust further. 9  Question: “How much has the result of the EU referendum affected the level of uncertainty affecting your business?” 7  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  7  Chart 6: Consumption and income growth Per cent  3  Referendum  2 1 0 -1 Quarterly consumption growth Quarterly household income growth Dashed lines represent averages over the period  -2 -3 2000  2004  2008  2012  2016  Chart 7: Household saving rate Referendum  Per cent of income  12 10 8 6 4 2 0 2000  2004  2008  2012  2016  Why didn’t demand fall further following the referendum? One reason is that the fall in the exchange rate, while dampening consumption, will also have supported net trade. Another is the policy actions that were taken in response.

17  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  17  Whether in speeches such as this or in our collective communications we will continue to be as open and transparent as possible about our interpretation of the data and its implications for policy. And we will continue to respond as events evolve to bring inflation sustainably back to target, in line with our remit. 18  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  18
What I understand as a sound financial system can be thought of as a system that, firstly, enables individuals to do all the payments they want at the very moment they like, and, secondly, enables individuals to smooth their consumption across time by saving and borrowing. In this respect, the financial stability issue, which arose during the nineties, is not a completely new one. Indeed, it has been of a significant importance since banking emerged. The long years of commodity money system (so called “golden standard”) could be characterised as years when money supply, i.e. the supply of gold, was so exogenous that it was even out of the central bank's control. Consequently, monetary policy was relatively easy to do, just establishing the parity between the central bank banknotes and the gold, but the role of the central bank as a lender of last resort was relatively constrained. Under those circumstances, the financial stability was naturally of a high importance, because for any commercial bank the attempt to “run” the bank could be deadly. Moreover, this could cause stampede runs on others banks and bring the whole system to an end, as the central bank's ability to provide the additional currency would be constrained by its gold reserves. To protect themselves, the commercial banks and the central bank established clearing houses to provide, in case of the run on any particular participating bank, the currency to each other. That was in fact a financial stability remedy, of course, being a product of its time.

2  BIS Review 20/2005
Three recent developments are especially encouraging in that regard. First, liquidity concerns have eased significantly following the European Central Bank’s (ECB) long-term refinancing operations in December and February. Through this program, the ECB provides three-year loans to European banks at low rates, accepting a wide array of collateral in return. Hundreds of banks accessed the program in each operation, and the ECB lent nearly € trillion in total. As a result, the cost of funding throughout Europe has  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  declined since the program began, the euro has stabilized, and the sovereign bond market has improved. Changes in the ECB’s collateral rules and reserve requirements have also had a positive impact. Second, earlier this month, the Greek government worked with European leaders and its largest creditors to restructure the bulk of its € billion of outstanding privately-held bonds. This not only reduced Greece’s total indebtedness, it helped calm persistent worries that a disorderly Greek default could become the trigger for a global economic crisis. Shortly after the debt restructuring, the EU approved a € billion aid package for Greece. Together, these measures will provide key support to Greek leaders as they pursue the difficult fiscal reforms that are essential over the long term. Third, leaders in most euro area countries have approved a new treaty designed to increase fiscal coordination. The new rules already appear to be making a difference. Both Spain and Italy recently completed 2012 budgets that move their deficits closer to EU targets.

At this time, although I do not anticipate further efforts by the Federal Reserve to address the potential spillover effects of Europe on the United States, we will continue to monitor the situation closely. Thank you for your invitation to testify today, and I look forward to answering your questions. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3
Svein Gjedrem: The economic outlook Address by Mr Svein Gjedrem, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), to invited foreign embassy representatives, Oslo, 6 April 2006. The address is based on the assessments presented at Norges Bank’s press conference following the Executive Board’s monetary policy meeting on 16 March, Inflation Report 1/06 and on previous speeches. Please note that the text below may differ slightly from the actual presentation. The  Charts in pdf-format can be found on the website of the Norges Bank. *  *  *  Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time to attend this event. It provides me with an opportunity to present Norges Bank’s view of the economic outlook for our country. Increased globalization The last decade has been characterized by increasing economic integration and considerable changes in the international division of labour. Global trade is growing at a markedly faster pace than production, thanks to technological advances and a sharp reduction in the costs associated with trade in goods, services and information. World financial markets are also in flux. Increased global trade and economic integration have led to a strong rise in cross-border capital flows. Foreign ownership of businesses has grown considerably. At the same time, savings are increasingly being invested in foreign countries. The world is gradually moving closer to becoming one market. These changes have been made possible by trade liberalization in the post-war period.

This should enhance their stability, and provide some protection against the fire sale externalities we saw during the crisis: forced asset sales, falling asset prices, leading to rising capital losses at other firms that led, in turn, to further funding difficulties, asset sales and so on. On the supervisory side, firms are now increasingly being evaluated on a cross-industry basis in order to identify best practices and to identify laggards that need to upgrade areas such as MIS, governance, model validation, and risk management practices. Activity restrictions are another potential means to reduce the risk of failure. The biggest initiative in this area is the Volcker Rule. By limiting proprietary trading activities, the Volcker Rules seeks to reduce trading risk and the likelihood of failure. 4  Earlier this month, the Financial Stability Board published a list of 28 global systemically important banks or G-SIBs that will be subject to capital surcharges. The firms were arrayed in four buckets, with an increasing capital surcharge as a percent of risk-weighted assets imposed as one ascended upward to the higher buckets. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  In addition, the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) is in the process of identifying those non-bank financial firms that are systemically important. These firms will be subject to tougher prudential standards and supervisory oversight by the Federal Reserve. Some argue that this designation process merely creates more TBTF firms. I see it differently. The system risk externalities do not depend on whether we label them systemic or not.
As with practically everything else, this assumption is associated with uncertainties that only the future can resolve. One of the biggest surprises of the coronavirus crisis concerns the property market. The memory of the post-GFC house price slump is still fresh in our minds. But we have seen nothing like that over the last year or so. The long-running rise in house prices has slowed but not gone into reverse. On the contrary, the property market has been boosted by soaring demand for housing in rural and mountain areas, fuelled by low interest rates. This is really not what an economy on its knees looks like. If we at the Czech National Bank erred in any of the forecasts we made in the dramatic days of last spring, when the pandemic struck with unforeseen force, it gives me some satisfaction to say that we were by no means alone. Obituary The coronavirus has sadly left a trail of economic, social and human devastation in its wake. Each of us no doubt knows someone who has been struck down by it. I’d like to take this opportunity to remember the well-known Czech economist Michal Mejstřík, who tragically lost his life to COVID-19 earlier this year. We always rightly admired Michal for his broad range of expertise, his intellectual curiosity and energy, and his ability to present interesting information and formulate fresh ideas.

As the study team has found out, emigrants in Italy have a high banking utilization rate – more than 50 percent have bank accounts. On the Albanian side, this figure drops to less than 20 percent. Emigrant families’ access to banks is suboptimal despite the considerable geographical expansion of commercial banks in recent years. In contrast with other remittance-receiving countries, banks in Albania still have only a small market share in remittance services. However, there are encouraging signs of demand for new technologies, innovative partnerships and entry points to reach disadvantaged groups. The high fees of the money transfer applied by the banks are often brought up as a motive why individuals do not prefer this service. Nevertheless, there is already an Albanian commercial bank, which offers transfers from Italy to Albania without charging any fee for amounts up to 250 euros a day, when the average monthly delivery of emigrants usually ranges from 100 to 150 euros. In the meantime, there are several other banks that provide the same service for transfers from Greece. Actually, we are examining the possibilities to lower the transfer costs through broader bilateral agreements between the two countries. Even though, money transfer companies provide transfer services at reasonable rates with a good geographical coverage, we still observe a lot of cash entering the country in bags. I retain, this is more a regulatory problem rather than the preference of emigrants to go informal.