samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
There is an international debate on the importance of being able to make large cuts, down to –5 per cent or more, for instance. 12 Would this be possible in Sweden? Purely technically, it is probably possible. But if such a measure were seriously to be considered – perhaps in a situation where the pandemic was having much greater negative effects on growth and unemployment – we would have to carefully consider a number of questions, not all of which would be strictly economic. The economic questions include the effects of negative interest rates on the functioning of the banks and on their profitability, something that is perhaps more important in countries other than Sweden. The idea is that there is a boundary beyond which interest rate cuts de facto become counterproductive in that lending becomes impeded. 13 Another economic question concerns the well-known reasoning that there is a point at which the general public decides to withdraw all its savings and convert them to cash or go over to using some other currency so as to avoid a negative interest rate. A question of public confidence The classic objection to negative interest rates may need to be complemented by other, less macroeconomic reasoning that concerns public confidence in the central bank and the country’s currency. The central bank is an important institution in most countries and its remit means that it takes responsibility for confidence in the means of payment, the country’s own currency.

Because banks have been identified as the primary focus of money launderers and provide an entry point for laundered money into the financial system, most efforts to combat this scourge are targeted towards banks. Under the money-laundering Act, banks have certain obligations, which are placed upon them by the law. These include: •  To keep identification record of its customers for a period of ten years. This is aimed at safeguarding the documentary evidence to prove that the financial institution has sufficient knowledge of its clients. •  To report to the Money Laundering Investigations Unit whenever there are reasonable grounds to believe that a money laundering offence has been or is about to be committed. •  To comply with any directives issued by the Bank of Zambia. •  To designate an officer in each branch or office as the money laundering officer. •  To provide training to staff on anti-money laundering techniques. In conclusion, Mr Chairman, I would like to state that the effects of money laundering are incomputable and unknown to many of us. The Prohibition and Prevention of Money Laundering Bill has laid a foundation and will serve to deter the use of the Zambian financial system as a site to launder dirty money. It has given each one of us a challenge. For the banking sector, the challenge is to ensure that their corporate governance structures and risk management systems are redesigned to take care of this growing threat.
The value of the banknotes and coins in circulation has fallen from 9.6% of GDP in 1950 to 2.9% in 2010. So, the question is: Should cash be compared with the extinct Neanderthals or the surviving Crocodiles? But why is this of interest to the Riksbank? Well, a first obvious answer is because it is the Riksbank that issues banknotes and coins. Another, and more complicated, answer is because one of the tasks of the Riksbank is to promote a safe and efficient payment system. This may sound a little high-flown, but it means, among other things, that we should promote the development of safe and efficient payments. This is why we have a natural interest in cards and cash. Hence, we are interested in the evolution of the market for payments, and that is why I am standing before you today. What I intend to talk about today is why I believe that cash will continue to play an important role in our payment system for the foreseeable future (even though not 85 million years) and why cards and other technological developments will not be able to fully take the place of cash. Ironically, part of the explanation for this lies in the strong position that debit and credit cards hold on the Swedish market. As usual I would like to make clear that my speech is an expression of my own views and that it may not necessarily be shared by my colleagues in the Board of the Riksbank.

Lars Nyberg: Will cash replace cards? Speech by Mr Lars Nyberg, Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the Cards and Cash Payments Forum, Stockholm, 3 May 2011. *  *  *  I would like to thank Björn Segendorff for his contributions to this speech. Since the latter half of the 19th century, the theory of evolution has gained general acceptance. It is considered to be self-evident that better-adapted species will outcompete those that are less-well adapted. Environmental changes may even lead to some species becoming extinct. There are no longer any sabre-toothed tigers or mammoths because the Ice Age is over. A new species may also be superior to another species in a crucial way. This is why we no longer see Neanderthals walking the streets. Nevertheless, some other amazingly old species are still with us. Crocodiles have been around for 85 million years and the coelacanth, if I am correctly informed, can be traced back 400 million years! An evolutionary process, although of a slightly different kind, is now also taking place on the payment market. Rapid technological development is changing the world around us. New payment methods are arising. Bank cards and credit cards have become a natural part of our everyday lives, as has Internet banking. In Sweden, cheques have been outcompeted and are hardly used at all. The number of paper-based giro payments is falling rapidly and it also appears that the use of cash is declining.
Our exceptional geographical, cultural and language advantages also make Hong Kong an ideal place to link up the Mainland of China with the rest of world. On our part, the HKMA will continue to play a leading role in enhancing the development of the debt market in Hong Kong, by removing market frictions and unnecessary restrictions, and by keeping up with the best practices adopted in other well-developed markets. Lastly, I would like to thank Euromoney again for inviting me to speak. I look forward to the continued cooperation with our partners on the healthy development of the bond market in this region. Thank you. BIS Review 56/2006  3

In addition, Hong Kong will contribute to the improvement of the regulatory standard of Mainland financial institutions through regulatory co-operation, technological exchanges and staff visits between the regulatory bodies in Hong Kong and on the Mainland. Secondly, with the expansion and diversification of international trade and investment activities in China, Mainland financial institutions (particularly banks) have to expand and engage in cross-border and overseas businesses. However, banks on the Mainland have to be cautious when “going global” because the operating environment, legal and regulatory requirements and staff employment system of the Mainland market are very much different from those of the overseas markets. Therefore, Hong Kong acts as a suitable “window” or “springboard”. Many Mainland banks, such as the Bank of China, have a long history in Hong Kong and have accumulated much operating experience. These banks are generally trusted and welcomed by the Hong Kong people due to their pragmatic ways of doing business. In 1996, the total asset of Mainland banks in Hong Kong was $ billion, accounting for 11% of the total assets of banks in Hong Kong. In 2009, the total asset of Mainland banks in  2  BIS Review 166/2010  Hong Kong increased to $ trillion, accounting for 19% of the total assets of banks in Hong Kong.
-  After this first contact, and once the Fintechs had started the actual  authorisation or registration process, the average time taken to ensure their applications were complete and decide on their legal classification was in line with the Charter – two to three weeks depending on the legal status – although  Page 3 of 5 for a third of cases it took longer; this was notably due to the sharp rise in applications (up 20% on last year). -  Once an application had been submitted, the deadline for examining it  was met in 84% of cases, with the average time standing at 12 days – less than the average of 17 days it took for applicants to respond! We are therefore well on the way to meeting the ambitious target deadlines set out in the Fintech Charter. This allows us to respond to the first criticism levelled against us: the lack of visibility over the application procedure and the amount of time they take. We shall continue our efforts to ensure we gradually get closer to our target deadlines, and not just in average terms (we have already met it this year), but for all individual cases. II. In France and Europe, we need to keep pace with the digital transformations under way Our attention is focused in particular on another aspect of the digital evolution: crypto-assets.

We are also looking very seriously into the possibility of a wholesale central bank digital currency: it would play a key role as the safest settlement asset, and would thus continue to anchor the monetary and financial system, even as the latter becomes partially tokenised. This is why the Banque de France is going to add, alongside some of you, three more experiments to the nine already carried out; it is also with this in mind that the Bank organised a pioneering international conference on 27 September on the tokenisation of finance. On a regulatory level, France was one of the first to propose a new DASP status under its 2019 PACTE Law, which has since been attributed to 54 players. Europe has provided a pioneering regulatory framework for crypto-assets thanks to the MiCA regulation; following the agreement obtained under the French presidency, it is crucial that it be adopted, and as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we will remain extremely vigilant regarding the risk of regulatory arbitrage in Europe. On a global level, it is imperative that the other large jurisdictions – including the largest one – now implement the shared recommendations of the G20 and FSB on consumer protection, financial stability and the prevention of money laundering. We all confirmed our agreement last week in Washington: this is good news for “trusted innovation”, but we need to turn our words into action on everything, and quickly, following the examples of France and Europe.
These examples illustrate the importance we attach to getting ahead of the curve on LIBOR transition, to condition and give clarity to market expectations about our likely policy settings, and to provide an early indication of what is possible. Conclusion With only 30 months to go until end-2021, it’s time to join the revolution and move on from LIBOR. Companies and their boards right across the sterling markets need to focus on what they must do to shift new business from LIBOR to SONIA, and planning how to mitigate their legacy risk. And lenders need to be educating their customers too. Just as importantly, though, firms should also be thinking creatively about ways to take advantage of the new opportunities of a post-LIBOR world to innovate and serve their customers better. I have tried to set out some of the ways in which this may be possible – but I am confident the best of you will quickly leave those far behind. Thank you. 11  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  11

The EU’s emission trading system (ETS) is the world’s largest carbon market. Its “cap and trade” scheme provides a mechanism for both reducing the total amount of emissions in a cost-efficient way and ensuring that pollution is priced adequately. A recent study shows that the ETS saved more than one billion tons of CO2 between 2008 and 2016, a 3.8% reduction in total EU-wide emissions. [5] And only this week, carbon prices hit their highest level in more than a decade, despite the sharp contraction in aggregate demand and energy consumption, possibly reflecting the anticipation of tighter climate policies under the European Green Deal (see figure 2). Figure 2 EU ETS price (in euro per ton CO2 emissions)  Source: Bloomberg. Last observation: 15 July 2020. Notes: Energy Broker pricing on Bloomberg updates on a near realtime basis. Updates only occur when there is activity in the market, so there may not be updates to every contract every day. There is no reason for complacency, however. Currently, the ETS only covers economic sectors that together account for less than half of total carbon emissions in the EU, whereas the remaining sectors are subject to a patchwork of non-harmonised measures across the European Union. A global solution is out of reach. Moreover, carbon pricing is not a sufficient condition to manage the transition towards a more sustainable economy. Fostering green investment and innovation This brings me to the second pillar.
Svein Gjedrem: The economic outlook Address by Mr Svein Gjedrem, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), to invited foreign embassy representatives, Norges Bank, Oslo, 8 April 2010. *  *  *  The address is based on the assessments presented at Norges Bank’s press conference following the Executive Board’s monetary policy meeting on 24 March, Monetary Policy Report 1/10 and previous speeches. Please note that the text below may differ slightly from the actual presentation. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Since our meeting a year ago, the international economy has begun to recover from the financial crisis. Norway has weathered the crisis better than most countries. In my presentation today, I would therefore like to discuss how underlying economic forces have benefitted the Norwegian economy through two “golden decades”. I will comment on the Government Pension Fund Global and how the financial crisis has influenced its investments and returns. A key lesson from the crisis has been the need for international cooperation and collective action. Before concluding, I will therefore highlight the importance of multilateral and statutory-based institutions for sound international economic governance. The Norwegian economy – two golden decades The economic downturn in Norway proved to be mild. Norway has not experienced a pronounced downturn since the crisis around 1990, when a cost crisis, an employment crisis with a sharp increase in unemployment and a decline in output, a currency crisis, a fall in property prices and a banking crisis all occurred at the same time.

During the upturn, Norwegian firms fared well in spite of high costs, thanks to efficiency gains, high turnover volumes and price increases. Despite the high cost of Norwegian labour, there has been virtually full employment. Markets will be more demanding ahead. Despite the floating exchange rate, our cost level cannot be expected to fall to any great extent as economic conditions are weaker in other European countries than here. The industrial structure in Norway’s relatively small economy is different from that of other advanced economies. The emergence of new Asian market economies is beneficial for Norway owing to its sizeable commodity exports and freight transport. This is also reflected in Norway’s equity market. The value of Norwegian listed companies correlates closely with the value of companies in emerging market economies. Norway is vulnerable to a slowdown in growth in Asia. In such a scenario, commodity prices might fall and the terms of trade deteriorate. Norway’s high cost level could at the same time make it difficult for the business sector to shift to new markets. Petroleum revenue spending Government petroleum revenue spending influences Norway’s cost level and trade conditions in international markets. BIS Review 44/2010  5  According to the fiscal policy guidelines, petroleum revenues should be phased gradually into the economy, approximately in pace with the expected real return on the Government Pension Fund Global, which is estimated at 4 per cent per annum.
A careful calibration of wording is needed, along with greater efforts to explain the role and limits of central banks in the financial field, in order to secure confidence. All this becomes even more challenging given the fast-moving, ‘post-truth’ environment plagued by populism. As impatience has filtered in many domains, an erosion of confidence in the independent, accountable public institutions has emerged, as did the risk of exposure to swings in the economy, due to a change in sentiment. 2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  To cope with this, central banks across the globe have boosted their efforts to educate, increase financial literacy, outreach and dissemination capacities, while trying to deal with the growing challenges related to fake news and negative campaigns. I would like to draw your attention to some recent, new tools – first, an ECB educational product called ‘Visitor Centre...to Go’ that briefs in plain language the institutions’ key messages and knowledge in an easy-to-carry format – a suitcase! Any ECB expert can use this kit during visits to schools or universities. Secondly, an interesting way to counterbalance fake news campaigns is the one used by the central bank of Ukraine – winner of 2019 Central Banking Publications award for transparency. They created a page on their website as well as infographics, with simple and relevant data, to dismiss fake news about local banks as the sector was struggling with a critical situation. Therefore, effective central bank communication for the whole spectrum of its policies is an ongoing challenge.

Mugur Isărescu: Central bank communication as a policy tool - an ongoing challenge Speech by Mr Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, at "The 41th Meeting of the Central Banks Governors’ Club of the Central Asia, Black Sea region and Balkan countries", Istanbul, 25 March 2019. * * * As prepared for delivery Distinguished audience, Dear colleagues, It is a great pleasure for me to address this distinguished panel on a topic that is both important and challenging for central banking. The session’s title includes three key issues: effectiveness, knowledge and trust, all in relation to the manner in which central banks communicate their policies and actions. I would like to share with you some general thoughts regarding these issues, as well as the National Bank of Romania’s experience in this area over the recent years. More transparency, commitments too Views and practices concerning transparency and communication have evolved dramatically in the last decade. Not long ago, the conventional wisdom was that monetary policymakers should say as little as possible, take markets by surprise and be rather cryptic. Things have changed, as the more independent central banks also became accountable for the ‘public goods’ they were called to provide for: a credible and convertible currency, price stability, employment and growth in other cases, banking sector supervision and financial stability. People tend to take these ‘public goods’ for granted, appreciating their importance only when lost.
As part of such a resolution process, regulators are working to ensure that systemically important firms have viable recovery plans and that such firms have “living wills” that can help guide how such firms can be managed through a resolution situation. Second, to reduce the likelihood of disruptive and highly costly failures, regulators around the world are evaluating whether bail-in forms of capital might be used to help recapitalize firms when they would otherwise lose their viability, or, alternatively, to help facilitate the orderly wind-down of a firm. Bail-in capital might consist of a well-identified tranche of debt that would convert to equity only if and when a particular set of trigger conditions were met. Such triggers might include breaching a certain level of regulatory capital and/or a regulatory determination that without conversion the firm would no longer be viable. One considerable challenge is how to define a set of triggers in a way that is sufficiently transparent and objective so that the bail-in process does not act as a catalyst and precipitate a run on other firms that might appear to have similar characteristics. In principle, however, by helping to recapitalize the firm, bail-in capital could help to forestall the need for a forced, rapid liquidation of assets and this might help to facilitate the orderly wind-down of a large, global firm that otherwise could not otherwise be easily resolved.

First, the capital requirements have been raised so that internationally active banks must have common equity ratios of at least 7 percent of risk-weighted assets when the standards are fully phased in by 2019. This 7 percent standard consists of a 4.5 percent minimum plus a 2.5 percent capital conservation buffer. Banks whose capital ratios fall into the buffer range will face increasingly stringent restrictions on capital distributions such as dividends and share repurchases and discretionary bonus payments to staff. This should act as a form of “automatic stabilizer” to their capital resources and change the incentives banks face during periods of stress. Second, for many globally active banks, the amount of capital required will also rise because the amount of risk-weighted assets against which the capital ratios are calculated will increase. Explicit capital requirements for operational risk and counterparty credit risk, as well as increased requirements for certain trading activity and transactions between financial institutions should result in a significant rise in risk-weighted assets. On the quality side, capital requirements have been toughened by narrowing the definition of what can be counted toward common equity capital for regulatory capital purposes. The emphasis has been put on common equity because of the superior loss-absorbing capacity of this type of capital on a going concern basis.