samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
For example, many states have limited the scope of their legislation to specific types of transactions (for example, transactions with the State, medical records, motor vehicle records). However,  BIS Review 26/1998  -6the biggest difference concerns the type of signatures covered, electronic signatures versus digital signatures, and the effect of those signatures on electronic documents. The more general term -- electronic signature -- can be used to describe any letters, characters, or symbols manifested by electronic or similar means and executed or adopted by a party with an intent to authenticate a writing. Examples of an electronic signature include a name typed at the end of an e-mail message by the sender or a digitalized image of a handwritten signature of the sender. A “digital signature” is a subset of electronic signatures and represents a unique way to “sign” an electronic message. A digital signature is simply a string of alpha-numeric characters. It is created by running an electronic message through a one-way hash function (thereby creating a unique digest or fingerprint of the message) and then using public key cryptography to encrypt the resulting message digest. Like all electronic signatures, a digital signature can serve the same function as a handwritten signature in that it can be used to signify authorship or assent. A digital signature, however, also serves an important security function that a handwritten signature and many electronic signatures may not.

The only option for the SNB is therefore to  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  diversify its risks as efficiently as possible with a view to limiting the exchange rate, credit and concentration risks of its foreign currency investments. The SNB had already begun diversifying its investments in the late 1990s. The SNB foreign currency investments are considerably more diversified than those of many other countries, with many central banks investing their foreign exchange reserves mainly in US Treasuries, that is, in public debt titles and in dollars. While the SNB also holds the large majority of its portfolio in the form of government securities, it also currently holds as many as 10% of its reserves in equities and 5% in corporate bonds. In order to limit credit risk, the large majority of our public debt holdings have the highest (AAA) or second-highest rating (AA). In effect, our current allocation corresponds to 86% AAA-rated and 13% AA-rated public debt holdings. The SNB diversification strategy is, however, subject to limits. These spring from the stringent requirements with regard to the security and liquidity of the investments. Many investment markets are too narrow, and do not meet the SNB’s liquidity requirements. The SNB’s investment universe – and thus its scope for diversification – is therefore limited. The bulk of the worldwide supply of highly rated public debt instruments is denominated in euros and US dollars.
The non-performing loan ratio has continued its downward trend despite the supply and demand shocks caused by the pandemic and stands at 11,2 percent as at June 2022, with total non-performing loans amounting to € which is the lowest level observed since 2014 when the definition was harmonised across the European Union. The current situation is therefore encouraging. But we should not fall into a complacency trap. Even though the banking sector exhibits significant reduction in NPLs, the progress has not been similar across the banking system with the smaller Banks lacking behind. Moreover, the risk of new defaults is increased in the current economic outlook. The elevated levels of inflation, in combination with the increasing interest rates, are expected to reduce net household income, which might ultimately hamper borrowers' repayment ability. The banking sector should continue to practice prudent policies and sensible risk management while being flexible to address the challenges that will arise. In a rather volatile period following two consecutive crises, it is vital that the banking sector adapt its business strategies to the new realities. This will be a challenging task as, it requires significant investment, cultural change and contribution of different stakeholders. Being mindful of time, I will focus on only three factors, which encompass the above challenges. 3/4  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  The first is transforming the banking business model towards technologically advanced services with digitization being the focus of this effort.

Constantinos Herodotou: A resilient banking sector in an everchanging economic environment Speech by Mr Constantinos Herodotou, Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, at the Deloitte Annual Conference, Nicosia, 28 September 2022. ***  Introduction Distinguished co-speakers and guests, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to this conference. It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to speak to you today. I will start with a brief overview of recent euro area and Cyprus economic developments and the monetary policy decisions taken in response to the new challenges of persistently high inflation and elevated economic uncertainty. I will continue with the developments in the Cyprus banking sector which needs to address a number of challenges in this fast evolving economic environment. Euro area Euro area economic developments In the euro area in general, GDP is growing at a slower pace this year than previously expected due to the negative geopolitical developments, mainly caused by the war in Ukraine. Growth is hampered by soaring energy and commodity costs, low confidence and supply chain disruptions. At the same time, inflation is approaching double digits, and a winter with possible energy shortages and high energy prices is on the horizon. Nevertheless, a recovering tourism industry, decreasing unemployment, and EU funding payments help to boost activity and limit, to some extent, output loss. More specifically, the Euro area quarterly economic growth reached 0.8 percent in the second quarter, following a 0.7 percent rise in the first quarter.
Jean-Pierre Danthine: The strong franc and the future of Switzerland’s financial market infrastructure – two current challenges for the Swiss National Bank Speech by Mr Jean-Pierre Danthine, Member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at a Money Market Event, Geneva, 3 November 2011. *  *  *  The speaker would like to thank Marlene Amstad, Anna Faber, Peter Kuster, Angelo Ranaldo, Andy Sturm, Dominik Salierno and Andreas Wehrli for their valuable support in drafting this speech and preparing this presentation. Introduction In today’s global economy, central banks face no shortage of challenges. Of the many issues we confront, I will discuss two that are currently of particular relevance to the Swiss National Bank (SNB). The strength of the Swiss franc is on everyone’s mind. This summer it became a predicament of unprecedented dimensions and it continues to put tremendous pressure on the Swiss economy. I will address this topic in the second part of my speech. By contrast, the challenge I will discuss first – the future of Switzerland’s financial market infrastructure (FMI) – is not making headlines at present. Essentially, the term FMI encompasses the exchanges, central counterparties, settlement systems, central securities depositories and other service providers which support the financial system. This infrastructure is central to the functioning of financial markets. It is crucial for the implementation of monetary policy and participants’ access to central bank liquidity. As long as the FMI functions smoothly, it rarely attracts public attention.

In contrast, between 1999 and 2008, the real effective exchange rate generally remained below its long-term average. It had started to increase around August 2007, then gaining over 30% between that time and the end of June 2011. With these numbers in mind, the additional changes registered this summer are quite extraordinary. Between early July and 9 August, when the Swiss franc reached its historic peak, its real value climbed another 17%. Estimates show that the currency was then almost 40% above its long-term average and more than 50% above its pre-crisis level.15 It can be argued that the Swiss franc is strong because the Swiss economy is faring well in absolute terms and, most importantly, in comparison with many of the country’s neighbours. Indeed, the Great Recession was less pronounced in Switzerland than in most other developed economies. The ensuing recovery was also relatively dynamic. The Swiss economy was one of the first advanced economies to return to the pre-crisis level of GDP and, in striking contrast with many other countries, Switzerland emerged from the crisis with solid public finances. Indeed, this explains why, in the crisis years, the country’s overall debtto-GDP level fell below 40%. Exchange rate movements, like those observed this summer, strongly suggest, however, that such explanations do not suffice. Slow-moving economic fundamentals or macroeconomic drivers can almost certainly not account for the sudden large movements of our exchange rate in July and August.
In their evaluation of Swedish monetary policy in the period 1995–2005, Giavazzi and Mishkin say that this was a sign that monetary policy had been too tight from the beginning of 2002.4 I do not agree with them. Looking back after the event, we can perhaps say that a couple of repo rate increases in 2001 and 2002 could have been avoided. The previous Governor of the Riksbank, Lars Heikensten, also admitted this at a hearing in the Riksdag Committee on Finance on 1 April 2004. But my view is that the repo rate was then reduced too much and was too low for too long. I can see four factors that support this. First, resource utilisation was probably higher than the Riksbank then estimated. The GDP gap is difficult to calculate, particularly at the end of a time series and in connection with severe downturns. According to the two GDP gaps presented in the Monetary Policy Report in February, the GDP gap prior to the crisis was approximately +4 per cent. My own assessment is that the GDP gap was in fact approximately +2 per cent.5 However, the fact that resource utilisation was so high was not as apparent before the crisis. This can be seen, for example, by comparing the calculations of the GDP gap in real time, that is at the point in time concerned, and the most recent calculations. The calculations in real time show that the GDP gap was actually assessed as relatively normal before the crisis (see Figure 6).

Second, inflation gradually increased in 2007 and 2008 to over 4 per cent. Inflation increased rapidly even if the effect of rising mortgage rates is discounted. This was largely due to rising energy and food prices. These price rises, as I mentioned earlier, were rooted in the expansionary monetary policy and the high level of growth in the world as a whole. The impact of monetary policy comes after a considerable time lag and the rate of inflation we see in these years is affected by monetary policy in previous years (see Figure 7). Third, inflation expectations also increased. The fact that inflation expectations one year ahead increased is natural given that the measured inflation rate also increased. However, inflation expectations five years ahead can be interpreted as an indication of whether monetary policy is credible or not. As long as these expectations are close to the inflation target, then this is a sign that the respondents expect the Riksbank to attain its target in the long term. The fact the long-term inflation expectations increased to over 2.5 per cent was therefore more worrying (see Figure 8). Fourth, there was a rapid expansion of credit and a rapid increase in housing prices. Lending to non-financial companies and to households increased by 10–15 per year in the years preceding the crisis and house prices increased by around 10 per cent per year. The prices of tenant-owned apartments increased even more rapidly.
In this connection, I shall begin by discussing how supervisory structures have developed in the main European countries; next, I shall refer to the changes brought on by the banking union; and finally, I shall conclude with some comments on the Spanish supervisory model. The organisation of supervision in the European countries Financial supervision pursues numerous aims, encompassing the safeguarding of financial stability, the proper functioning of securities markets and investor protection. These aims are linked to specific functions such as oversight of the solvency position and liquidity of banks, insurance companies and other leveraged institutions whose activity involves risk transformation; and monitoring of the conduct of institutions, intermediaries and other participants in the markets for financial products and services. Recently added to these functions are the so-called macroprudential policies, geared to the containment of macro-financial risks, and the management of orderly resolution procedures for systemically important institutions. The adoption of a model of supervisory organisation involves defining a certain number of supervisory agencies and assigning to each of them a specific scope of action, clearly defined objectives and the instruments needed to achieve them. Historically, the models chosen have been the result of the assessment by the authorities of elements such as the structure of the supervised sector, the need to ensure a sufficient institutional efficiency, harnessing the synergies between different supervisory tasks, or the need to forestall the emergence of potential conflicts between the objectives assigned to a single agency.

BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  Figure 1 Inflation indicators (*) (annual change, percent) 8  8 Services EFE  6  6  4  4 CPI  2  2  CPIEFE  0  0  Good EFE  -2  -2  -4  -4  -6  -6 11  Jul. 12  Jul. 13  Jul. 14  Jul. 15  Jul. (*) As from January 2014, the new indexes with annual base 2013=100 are used, so they are not strictly comparable with earlier figures. Sources: Central Bank of Chile and National Statistics Institute (INE). Figure 2 Labor market (percent; annual change, percent) 12  12 Unemployment rate(1)  10  10  8  8 Wages (2)  6  6  4  Employment (1)  4  2  2  0  0  -2  -2 00  05  10  15  (1) Spliced series using monthly variation in February 2010. (2) For nominal wages, average ULC and IREM were used. Spliced series using monthly variation in February 2010. Sources: Central Bank of Chile and National Statistics Institute (INE).
These include those with backgrounds in risk, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital strategies and products, compliance, and corporate finance. Increasingly, with the impact of climate change and green financing, new demands will include climate modelling techniques, and environmental accounting. Second, organisations have no choice but must upskill and reskill to strengthen workforce preparedness. As all of you know, retaining the right talent and investing in their development is much more sustainable and less costly compared to constant acquisitions to replace good talent that leave. Consistently developing talent, succession planning, on-boarding, and having good corporate learning are all at the heart of successful high-performing organisations. Good corporate learning and development strategies include customising learning pathways to close skills gaps, and providing career pathways that allow mobility and exposure, where people can learn different aspects of the business. Third, like in other parts of our operations, organisations must leverage digital learning for greater impact. And yet, we should pay equal attention to human aspects that technology cannot replace, including executive acumen and leadership. The past year alone has seen the forced shift from traditional classroom learning to virtual channels. This has seen a surge in self-paced and online learning. With adaptive learning pathways that are powered by algorithms and AI, people can learn faster based on their own unique learning needs. But, when the situation permits, it will need to be balanced with higher interaction and face-toface learning especially in building executive skill sets.

“Reducing Skills Imbalances to Foster Productivity Growth of Malaysia,” OECD Working Paper  3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches
In recent years we have attached importance to contributing to a transparent monetary policy. This is in keeping with trends in many other countries. Transparency promotes predictability in the behaviour of the central bank and helps diminish uncertainty for all participants in the economy. It is our hope that in this way the Norwegian economy will be less exposed to doubt and speculation concerning the setting of interest rates, with attendant greater stability in the formation of expectations and smoother movements in long-term interest rates. We aim to create a pattern of continuity and consistency in the implementation of monetary policy. Developments in financial indicators do not indicate that there is great uncertainty in the markets regarding developments in the internal and external value of the Norwegian krone. For instance, developments in bond yields show that the risk premium has been relatively stable in recent years. The pricing of the Norwegian krone in the options market indicates that substantial uncertainty with regard to movements in the value of the krone against the euro is not factored into the price of options. Norges Bank’s Executive Board engages in a broad discussion of monetary policy every six weeks. Any decisions concerning interest rate changes or other important changes in the use of monetary policy instruments are normally taken at these meetings. Monetary policy decisions made by the Executive Board (be they decisions to change key rates or to leave them unchanged) are announced in press releases at 2 pm on the day of the meeting.

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As the result, prices of metals and energy commodities have doubled since the end of 2004. Although prices of these products do not affect consumer inflation directly, in the medium term will contribute to further increase of inflation volatility. 3. Migration. One of the major obstacles is the massive emigration of workforce observed in the New Member States after joining the European Union. In Poland and the Baltic states some 4 to even more than 7 percent of a labour force attracted by higher wages, job availability and better living conditions migrated so far to the EU-15. This has led to severe tensions in many industries pushing wages and unit labour costs up. High corporate profits have provided a cushion yet, but, if this situation continues, many companies will be forced to raise prices to remain profitable. 4. Rising unit labour costs. Growing tension on the labour market is present in all CEE countries, but Baltic and Balkan States seem to be the most threatened by rising labour costs. Annual average dynamics of unit labour costs in the second quarter of 2007 in CEE accounted to 8 per cent and in the group of Baltic and Balkan states the figure was over two times higher. This shows that sooner or later (rather sooner) enterprises will stop cutting their profit margins and will be forced to pass growing operational costs on consumers. 5. Challenges to keep fast productivity growth. We live in a global knowledge economy, which is driven by innovation – technological, business-process or customer related.

We have placed our trust in the measures taken by our government and in each other. This is what we do when our country is faced with a crisis. Come what may. 15  u
There was a similar experience in 2015 when the currency depreciated by 6.5 per cent after spending US dollars 2.1 billion of our reserves. Wasting large amounts of  5  3 August, Thursday  the country’s external reserves, much of  6  26 September, Tuesday  it borrowed, in a vain effort to defend  7  7 November, Tuesday  8  28 December, Thursday  the currency, which has to be ultimately depreciated anyway, is clearly unsustainable. It is time to stop this pattern and commence building up of external reserves through sustainable  Volatile global market conditions and Sri  foreign exchange inflows. Lanka’s vulnerability as a twin deficit country underscore the vital importance  The impact of global developments,  of having a flexible exchange rate policy  such as Brexit, recent Presidential  to adjust to external pressures. Recent  elections in the United States (US) as  experience has clearly demonstrated  well as interest rate hikes by the US  that it is unsustainable to maintain an  Federal Reserve, the forthcoming  overvalued exchange rate at the  elections in France and Germany in  expense of external reserves.

4.0 billion to the needy sectors of  Central Bank of Sri Lanka – ROAD MAP 2017  30  the economy and is expected to  implemented with the collaboration  commence in January 2017.  of the Ministry of National Policy and   National Strategy for Financial Inclusion: Based on the findings of the Financial Inclusiveness Survey (FIS), a comprehensive draft of National Strategy for Financial Inclusion will be developed considering the contemporary  Economic Affairs, Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy, Sustainable Energy Authority and other stakeholders, with the intention of promoting rooftop solar power generation in the country.  Promoting Green Financing: In  national financial inclusion strategies  addition, the Central Bank will  of peer countries. The views of  promote Green Financing through  domestic stakeholders, obtained  enhancing awareness to encourage  through continuous dialogue, will be  enterprises to protect the  considered in drafting the proposed  environment, conserve resources  national strategy. and to achieve carbon neutrality.  Promoting Commercial Scale Organic Agriculture and Dairy Entrepreneurship: Addressing the increased concerns of the public and  Banks will also be encouraged to provide financial facilities to green enterprises with the intention of protecting the environment.