samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Barbro Wickman-Parak: Financial stability in focus Speech by Ms Barbro Wickman-Parak, Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the Swedish Chambers, Gothenburg, 29 October 2009. *  *  *  Two years of global financial crisis have shaken the economies of the world to their foundations. Central banks and other authorities around the world have implemented extensive measures to deal with the problems created by the crisis. I am sure that many people are asking what it is that is so special about the financial sector - and particularly the banks – that justifies this intervention on the part of the authorities. It is hardly likely that such massive efforts would be made for any other commercial or industrial sector. To answer this question, we need to remind ourselves of the importance of the financial sector to the economy as a whole. If our modern societies are to work effectively, we must be able to make and receive payments quickly and safely. It must also be possible to efficiently channel our savings surplus to those companies and households that need to borrow so that, for example, important investments can be made. Trust and confidence are cornerstones of this system. If we are to accept money – cash – as a means of payment we must have faith in its value. And if we are to deposit our money in various bank accounts we must have faith in the banks concerned. Money – a smart invention What do we really need money for?

29 November 2018  Deputy Governor Rannveig Sigurðardóttir. Introductory remarks at the 2nd Annual Nordic Cyber in Finance Conference, Helsinki, 29 November 2018  Let me begin by saying that this conference is both timely and interesting for me, as I have only been in office for five months. Given that I come from the monetary policy department at the Central Bank of Iceland, cybersecurity has not been much on my agenda until now. It is, nonetheless, a very important topic. The Central Bank of Iceland, and other central banks are facing several new challenges in this area, both in the financial sector generally and central banking more specifically. Last week I attended an interesting macroprudential policy conference at Danmarks Nationalbank. The discussion paper prepared for that conference was called While the sun is shining, prepare for a rainy day. Sitting there, I pondered what the discussion paper for this conference today might be called. Perhaps something like The snowstorm is here – what do we wear? Cybercrime is now the world’s fastest-growing type of crime. It has shot up to second place on the list of the top ten business risks worldwide, after not even making the list five years ago. The financial sector is particularly important because it greases the wheels of our economies, and cyber risks pose mounting threats to the financial system. Developments since the emergence of the internet show that new technologies have brought with them new challenges.
The key policy rate was kept unchanged at the June meeting, but the interest rate forecast implied a likely interest rate increase after summer. Norges Bank did, however, underline the risk of a possible appreciation of the krone and inflation that might become too low as a result of economic divergences between Norway and other countries. In the course of summer and autumn, international growth prospects worsened considerably. Financial market tensions heightened, and market participants’ key rate expectations were lowered appreciably. Yields on government bonds in countries with weak public finances jumped, while equity prices declined. Money market premiums moved up and banks’ funding costs rose. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  The turbulence and weaker growth prospects abroad fed through to the Norwegian economy. At the monetary policy meetings in August, September and October, the Executive Board decided to leave the key policy rate unchanged at 2.25 percent. Around the turn of the year, financial turbulence intensified and the risk of a downturn increased, particularly in Europe. The debt crisis in the euro area made it more difficult and expensive for European banks to procure market funding. Norwegian banks were also affected. With a view to countering the higher premiums in the money market and curbing the effects of weaker developments abroad on the Norwegian economy, the key policy rate was reduced to1.75 percent in December. The situation in international financial markets improved in the course of winter. The krone appreciated.

Most recently, a pilot “blended financing” programme has been introduced to enable micro-entrepreneurs in the low income group generate more sustainable income from viable business activities. The provision of zakat funds as initial capital is complemented by affordable microfinancing arrangement for working capital and a customised training programme to enhance business productivity. Participants of the programme also receive 12 months of business mentoring with impact-based monitoring implemented to monitor the effectiveness of the programme. The pandemic has been a test of resilience for nations around the world. This test also presents many opportunities for the global Islamic finance community to accelerate the progress of sustainable and inclusive finance towards achieving shared prosperity, sustainability and inclusive growth. The launch of the two reports on Islamic fintech and Islamic finance for financial inclusions should be seen as a call for collective action – each one of us has a part to play in 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  creating a more sustainable and equitable financial system. I look forward to the discussion on this important topic over the course of today. On this note, I wish to thank the World Bank Group for this invitation and I wish all of you a productive week. 1 John Hopkins University of Medicine, Coronavirus Resource Center (data as at 29 September 2020). 2 The 2017 Global Findex database is the world’s most comprehensive data set on how adults in more than 140  economies access accounts, make payments, save, borrow and manage risks.
To continue reducing debt vis-à-vis the rest of the world, sustained external surpluses must be run. And that in turn calls for the maintenance of gains in competitiveness, which throughout the recovery have been based on the moderation of labour and financial costs and which, hereafter, should hinge to a greater extent on productivity gains. Indeed, in the recovery to date, the increases in total factor productivity continue to be smaller than those in other developed economies. That is in response to numerous institutional, regulatory and structural factors that public policy should seek to correct. These factors include certain shortcomings in the labour market – such as excessive turnover and temporary contracts – and in the education system; scant generation and dissemination of technological advances; competition-curbing regulatory elements; and the improvable quality of business management. In this respect, it should be borne in mind that, during the expansionary phase prior to the crisis, the loss of competitiveness in terms of the surplus per unit of output was on a similar scale to that mentioned for ULCs. However, the subsequent correction has been much smaller, which explains why the current level of the value-added deflator has grown 10 pp more in Spain than in the euro area as a whole in cumulative terms since the monetary union began functioning. The design of a regulatory framework more conducive to competition should allow for a greater contribution of business margins to gains in competitiveness visà-vis the euro area.

It is small firms (those with fewer than 50 employees) that have most stepped up their entry into foreign markets, although their contribution to total exports remains small compared with larger companies. At the same time, the number of regular exporting firms (i.e. those that sell their products abroad for four years running or more) has risen in this period by 32%. This increase has been particularly notable in target markets with high growth potential, such as North Africa, Asia and North America. The decision by a firm to begin to export entails fixed costs of a significant magnitude. This would suggest that, once these costs are assumed, the firm tends to remain in the market chosen. It also points to the fact that the broadening of the base of exporting firms might be predominantly structural in nature, as attested to by the fact that the persistent recovery in domestic demand since 2014 does not appear to have had a negative bearing on the number of regular exporting firms. 3/6  The Spanish productive system’s greater export orientation has boosted business investment. The evidence is that exporting firms have higher investment/capital ratios, whereby the broadening of the export base is estimated to have contributed to the buoyancy of investment in aggregate terms. As a result, the behaviour of investment during the recovery has been more favourable than that arising from the course of aggregate demand.
It could thus acquire very significant external debt before reaching debt levels of many other developed countries with strong credit ratings. These CDS spreads have also come down significantly from their peak. Despite the very high CDS spreads on the Icelandic banks, they have funds at levels that are below their CDS spreads. Nevertheless, the access of the banks to external financing has been limited. Their liquidity cushion means that they can stay out of the market for quite some time. The prevailing circumstances in international capital markets and the limited prospects of improvement in the foreseeable future have, however, led the banks to embark upon a process of reducing costs and streamlining their operations, including liquidating assets, and on attracting deposits. This is a process that evidently will have to continue. It does not detract from the fact that the banks had solid capital and liquidity positions at the end of last year as reflected in their 2007 accounts. They had a solid performance in 2007. They all returned a profit in the last quarter of the year despite the significantly more hostile operating environment. It was also notable that the profitability of their core operations was strong in that quarter. Taken together, the banks had insignificant exposure in sub-prime related instruments and where they existed, they have been significantly reduced. Thus, there have been small write-downs of sub-prime related debt as there has been little to write down.

It is mainly driven by a sharp reduction in private consumption, but cyclical swings in private consumption are a recurrent feature of Iceland’s economic history. Even if GDP contracts on the scale forecast by the Central Bank in 2009 and 2010, average GDP growth in the period 2005 to 2010 will still be well above 2%. Given the characteristic fluctuations in the Icelandic economy, one must take a longer view of developments than just one year to get a picture of long-term trends. It is also important to keep in mind that the contraction of the economy is unavoidable if sustainable balance is to be restored following the extended period of overheating. Once that has been achieved, the economy will be very well set for a recovery of growth to a long-term sustainable trend. Iceland is in the enviable position of being endowed with rich renewable energy resources in the form of hydro and geothermal power in addition to renewable resources of the sea. With rising energy prices and concerns for the environment, Iceland’s energy reserves become all the more valuable. In addition, Iceland has highly developed service sectors, including financial services and tourism, that will contribute to the recovery of activity following the adjustment of the economy. I should add here that in addition to favourable demographics, Iceland has a largely fully funded pension system with total assets equivalent to over 130% of GDP. Thus, there is no fiscal overhang related to a slowly aging population.
In fact, the European Central Bank took the first major step in this regard by raising the policy rate to 1.25 percent in April by 25 basis points. 15. However, as I mentioned previously, it is impossible to claim that downside risks on the global economy have completely faded away. As a matter of fact, recently mounting concerns over debt sustainability in peripheral euro area countries indicate that these risks still remain, albeit to a lower degree. Furthermore, the ongoing surge of commodity prices, especially of oil, stands out as another risk factor that may slow down the global economic recovery. Distinguished Guests, 16. In this part of my speech, I would like to evaluate key macroeconomic developments in Turkey in line with the global economic developments in 2010. Developments in the Turkish economy 17. Adoption of additional easing measures in emerging economies led to growing expectations that low interest rate and ample liquidity conditions in advanced economies would be maintained for an extended period, which in turn increased the global risk appetite in 2010. Consequently, capital inflows to emerging economies accelerated and risk premiums of these countries declined. Meanwhile, risks regarding the debt sustainability of peripheral euro area countries remained vigorous and continued to dominate the financial markets. In fact, renewed concerns over sovereign debt since November increased risk aversion and raised risk premiums across emerging economies. 18.

Accordingly, in the upcoming period, the CBRT may alter its liquidity management strategy to meet the emerging needs and actively use additional policy tools, such as the corridor between borrowing and lending rates and reserve requirements, to maximize the effectiveness of the 1-week repo auction rate, the main policy tool, and to contain macro financial risks. 52. In the period ahead, monetary policy will continue to focus on achieving price stability on a permanent basis. To this end, the impact of the macroprudential measures taken by the CBRT and other relevant institutions on the inflation outlook will be considered carefully. Fulfillment of the commitments to fiscal discipline in the medium term and strengthening the structural reform agenda will contribute to the improvement of Turkey’s sovereign risk, and thus, support macroeconomic stability as well as price stability. Sustaining the fiscal discipline will also provide room for monetary policy maneuver, supporting the social welfare by keeping interest rates permanently at low levels. In this  16  BIS central bankers’ speeches  respect, I would like to conclude my remarks by underlining that timely implementation of the structural reforms envisaged by the MTP and the European Union accession process remains to be of utmost importance. Thank you. BIS central bankers’ speeches  17
of PopulaBanking PopulaBanking Outlets tion per tion Density Branch (All ('00,000) Banks) *  Province  Banking Population Density per Branch  1  Colombo  415  24.56  16.90  5,918.07  2  Gampaha  174  21.40  8.13  12,298.85  3  Kalutara  89  11.11  8.01  12,483.15  4  Matale  38  4.77  7.97  12,552.63  5  Kandy  96  13.80  6.96  14,375.00  6  Nuwara Eliya  46  7.42  6.20  16,130.43  7  Galle  78  10.52  7.41  13,487.18  8  Matara  70  8.13  8.61  11,614.29  9  Hambantota  50  5.52  9.06  11,040.00  10  Jaffna  40  5.99  6.68  14,975.00  11  Killinochchi  4  1.46  2.74  36,500.00  12  Mullativu  4  1.47  2.72  36,750.00  13  Mannar  5  1.01  4.95  20,200.00  14  Vavuniya  8  1.66  4.82  20,750.00  15  Ampara  42  6.15  6.83  14,642.86  16  Batticaloa  20  5.23  3.82  26,150.00  17  Trincomalee  18  3.55  5.07  19,722.22  18  Kurunegala  101  15.24  6.63  15,089.11  19  Puttalam  53  7.52  7.05  14,188.68  20  Anuradhapura  66  8.01  8.24  12,136.36  21  Polonnaruwa  34  3.95  8.61  11,617.65  22  Badulla  71  8.50  8.35  11,971.83  23  Monaragala  35  4.25  8.24  12,142.86  24  Kegalle  68  8.02  8.48  7.42 13,485.71  25  Ratnapura  72  10.86  6.63  11,794.12 Sabaragamuw a 15,083.33  1,697  200.10  8.48  11,791.40  8.48 11,791.40  Total * Branches only  BIS Review 40/2008  Western  11.88  8,417.40  Central  6.93 14,438.89  Southern  8.19 12,207.07  Northern  5.26 19,000.00  Eastern  5.36 18,662.50  North Western  6.77 14,779.22  North Central  8.36 11,960.00  Uva  8.31 12,028.30  Source: Central Bank of Sri Lanka  3  Table I shows that as at the end of 2007, there were 678 banking outlets in the Western Province out of a total branch network of 1,697 in the whole country.

Ranee Jayamaha: Access to finance and financial inclusion for women Speech by Dr Ranee Jayamaha, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at the Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR), Colombo, 4 April 2008. *  *  *  Let me start by giving a general definition for access to finance and financial inclusion before assessing the status of women in these two areas, and then discuss the areas of focus in enhancing financial inclusion for women. What is access to finance? In simple terms, this means to provide an environment in which people, in general, have accesses to the formal financial system, through the use of different financial products at affordable prices. The access could be to any formal financial institution, market, and payment system or to a financial instrument, including savings, loans, remittances and insurance services. What is financial inclusion? This means the process of facilitating those sectors and segments of the population that are outside, to become a part of the formal financial system and enrolling individuals or groups into the formal financial sector.
The question now, of course, is where do we go from here. There have recently been encouraging, but still tentative, signs that the worst of the global slowdown may now be behind us, and that the US and Eurozone economies are now beginning to bottom out and will pick up, perhaps to around trend, as we go through this year. Some Asian countries actively involved in the ICT sector are showing a strong recovery, and even in Japan financial markets have recently strengthened. As for the exchange rate, the euro, which has, as I say, been puzzlingly weak since soon after its introduction 3 years ago, still seems likely to strengthen eventually. As it becomes clearer that the international environment really is improving, and that external demand really is picking up, then we can look forward to better balanced and generally stronger growth in our own economy. That will in due course mean that domestic demand growth - and consumer demand growth in particular - will need to moderate if we are to avoid a build up of inflationary pressure. But let me be quite clear - that's not a warning, still less is it a threat. It is essentially just a matter of arithmetic! It's quite possible, even quite likely, that the necessary moderation of consumer demand - and I emphasise the word moderation - will come about of its own accord, given the gradual increase in unemployment we are currently seeing, and the build up of household debt.

Unbalanced recovery of the world economy We observe that the global recovery is very dissimilar between advanced and emerging economies. The US, Europe and Japan are growing slowly and have high levels of idle capacity and unemployment. The financial crisis has caused them lasting damage in the 1  balance sheets of consumers, banks and governments that will take years to heal. Most likely, their demands will continue to grow slowly. Recent financial turbulences in Europe confirm this scenario. This situation contrasts with growth in Latin America and emerging Asia. In the past year, these economies have grown above trend, thanks to still expansionary macroeconomic policies, increased external funding available and, in our region, improved terms of trade. Output gaps are near exhaustion and policy-makers are withdrawing their stimulus to demand in order to avoid an inflationary resurgence and generate a sustainable growth path. The main projections of the world economy foresee that this disparity between emerging and advanced economies will go on for the next two years. These aspects will be addressed in more detail next week when we present our December 2010 Monetary Policy Report. The real issue here is that the recovery of the developed world will not hold if it happens at the expense of repeating the current account deficits of the pre-crisis years. A recomposition of global demand is necessary. The crisis has left an excess of savings in the world that drives down the international real interest rate.
In thinking about the best way to introduce these practices into our system, we should not kid ourselves about how difficult this will be to execute. It will take the right people, with the right skill sets, operating in a system with the right culture, tools and legal framework. The governance process surrounding systemic risk regulation will have to be extremely flexible and dynamic, able to identify important vulnerabilities as they emerge and able to act on those concerns in a timely manner. System dynamics Over the course of this crisis, it has become evident that our system has some powerful reinforcing mechanisms built into it. This suggests that one important focus of regulation should be on how to change the system in order to eliminate or at least mitigate those destructive dynamics. Let me give you a few examples. In times of stress, banks may have incentives to continue to pay dividends to show they are strong even when they are not. This behavior depletes the bank’s capital and makes the bank weaker. To correct this shortcoming in our system, we should craft policies that either incent or require weak and vulnerable firms to cut dividends quickly in order to conserve capital. This would introduce a dampening mechanism into our system. Another example of a reinforcing mechanism is a situation in which firms have incentives to structure activities to minimize regulatory capital or other requirements without transferring risk.

•  Decisions will also be taken later this year on the recommendations in the Banking Sector Consultancy Study, with the aim of enabling Hong Kong’s banking system to make the best out of the opportunities and challenges of the next century, without sacrificing the stability that has seen it through these years of crisis. The views collected in the public consultation exercise will be announced in the next few days. •  Beyond Hong Kong itself, we shall continue to work with our counterparts overseas to reform the international financial system, so that it too is better able to cope with the kind of stresses and strains that have rocked the region in the past couple of years. As I have said earlier, monetary and banking issues concern all of us, and stability in the international financial system and in our own are essential to Hong Kong’s economic health. We intend to do our best to ensure that the community is kept informed of what we are doing and that the concerns of the community are taken into account. I feel sure that we can look to this Panel, and to the Legislative Council generally, to continue to work with us in this task, and my colleagues and I look forward to many further discussions with Members in the future. BIS Review 48/1999  4